Hello and welcome to Hayley Webster - Fine Artist

Wow! For anyone who has followed my Instagram from the beginning you will know that this has been a long time coming. I am incredibly grateful for every single one of my followers who have shown me support over the years. Everything that has happened since March 2018 has led me to this point and honestly? I still can’t quite believe I’ve actually made it this far. So, here it is, my shiny new website. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback, I would love to know your thoughts.

As this is my first blog post, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk you a little bit about when I started on this Journey through art and why I try to live my life with as little regrets as possible.

In the beginning…

Let’s just make one thing clear. I didn’t just wake up one day and think to myself “I’ll just give art a go” I’ve always been an artist, deep down. In fact, as a child, it was one of my favourite pastimes. I’ll be honest though, I never saw myself having a career in Art. It wasn’t because I thought I wasn’t good enough (at that time) but because I actually wanted to be a Forensic Scientist in The Royal Navy. I know, niche, right? I focused the majority of my study on Science and English but I did take Art as a GCSE and I did love it. I was always passionate about creating art. However, after returning to school following a short illness, I discovered the piece of art that was to be my coursework (a portrait) had been destroyed by a group of bullies who had hounded me for three years. It was a real shame - They must have gone to some length to do it as they weren’t even in that class. Unfortunately, school kinda sucked and after that, I didn’t touch art again until some many years later.

In fact, I didn’t draw anything again until the end of 2011 when I just practiced with tattoo designs and mandalas. It was at this point my dad would start saying I should sell my work. Of course, as most artists tend to do, I said I wasn’t good enough. I truly. believed I wasn’t as my drawings weren’t what I would consider, perfect. Anyway, at this point I was a copywriter so art, yet again, wasn’t on my list of priorities. I knew I enjoyed it, I knew I felt comfortable with it and yet I still had no push to pursue it. Any work I did do, I kept mostly to myself. I think I was probably too afraid to let my artist self be seen again as back in high school, I had clearly pissed a few people off with my “talent”.

Fast forward a few years to 2018. The year I document as the worst of my life (yes, even worse than 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic) My father died in early March, taking a piece of my soul with him. A few things hit me pretty hard along with his death. One was that I never did sell any of my work like he always hoped, and this made me kinda sad. He was the first person to ever believe in me and he never got to see if his suspicions were true. And second, the big one, was that my dad died harbouring a huge regret. He never did make it back home to Australia. Everyone who knew him knew how much he loathed England and that his biggest regret on this Earth was that he never went back to Australia. He told everyone who would listen; He told my mum when they met, he told me almost daily. Looking back I guess it would seem like he was trying to teach me a lesson but he never said it in so many words. He died taking that regret with him and it was something I swore from that moment that I would never do: I would not allow myself to live with any regret over something I am passionate about.

So, without knowing what I was doing I grabbed some paints, brushes and canvas and I began to paint. And paint. And paint. It took me a while to start getting the hang of things but what was apparent from the very beginning was that I absolutely loved it! For the first time ever in my life I understood what I was meant to do. And then I sold a painting. And another. And another until I started to realise there was a need to take this further - to take the next steps.

And so, here I am. 32 years old and only just figuring my life out. I’m so grateful for where I am right now, it’s not perfect by any means and I have a lot more goals to reach but I am content. And I am proud. I want to say it’s never too late to try and go after your dreams but the truth is, if you don’t try right now when you have the chance then one day, it will be too late. If you have the chance to do something you’re passionate about, then do it. Do it now even if you don’t think it will work. It is better to have lived and tried than to never have tried at all.

No one knows what is waiting for us tomorrow, next week or next month so I don’t want to waste any moment of my life with regrets over things I could have changed. I don’t want any “what ifs”. I’m fine with “It didn’t work, but I tried” but “I wish I would have done that, or what if I’d done that” is not acceptable. Some people think I started this art journey for my dad and I guess they’re not wrong. But I think more along the lines of I do it because of him. It’s a real shame that it took his death for me to realise how short and precious life truly is and that there really is no room for regrets. At least not if you want to live a happy and fulfilled life.

So go after your dreams. But don’t wait. Grab each and every opportunity that comes your way. Even if it is just for a moment of fleeting happiness or a passion you can practice for the rest of your life. If you have the chance to be awesome? Be AWESOME!

Oh and if you’re one of the bitches that ruined my work back in high school?

Ha. 🖕🏼