All artists love what they do and are passionate about their work. Still, there are three kinds of them.</stro

As women continue to be a driving force for change around the world, this series aims to highlight those who demonstrate an exceptional commitment to creating an impact.

One paints purely for pleasure, self-expression and to recharge.

The other desires so much to make art for a living, he or she makes art and lets it all pile up. They might show it to friends who visit or post an occasional picture here and there but are largely unsuccessful in making their passion their livelihood for lack of connections, networking, or promotion.

The last is similar to the first, yet is successful because she is not afraid to put herself out there, and also because when hard times sweep in, she always gets up, dusts herself off, and comes back stronger than before.

Clare Haxby is the latter of the artists with a successful career as a painter, and today, we have the pleasure of sharing her history and life lessons through a creatively inspiring, exclusive Connected Women interview.

You have so many things going on in your resume—from painter to designer. What would you say is your core passion?

My core passion is painting and drawing, it’s the basis of all the creative arts, it was the gift I was born with and from being a young child it was always what I loved to do the most. At age 9, I won a competition for drawing a fairground carousel of horses and giraffes with felt tip pens. It was the first thing I ever won and I remember it so clearly being so surprised but so, so happy to have won doing something I love doing – ART!

A Very Young Start

I love anything to do with colour and ‘creativity’ especially painting and textiles for interiors. I swoon over a stylish interior more than I do clothes! I grew up in a home where my mother loved sewing and embroidery, and my grandmother knitted and baked amazing things, I loved to be involved with helping her. So although no one in my family is an artist, I grew up with creativity around me. Once, my dad took me to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and bought me art books, such as a book on Zandra Rhodes the pink haired flamboyant textile designer from London.

I had an uncle, a Spanish friend of my parents’ who was an actual artist and I remember visiting his studio, and that heart-fluttering moment amidst the smell of the oil paint when I saw it was something you could do as your ‘job.’ I thought it was so exciting!

You have traveled almost all around the world. Why did you decide to live in Singapore for 8 years?

My husband Owen worked for a company in Richmond upon Thames in London and he was asked to do an overseas posting in Singapore. We were keen to experience life in the tropics especially as Owen was born in Tawau, Malaysia. When we got this opportunity, we were willing to give it a go despite really loving where we were living in London as we had just completed an entire renovation of our Victorian house.

However, life in Singapore has been a positive experience for us all. The children have global friends, as do we, and we have also made the most of our opportunity to travel around Asia. The best thing about my experience of Singapore is the amazing friendships I have made, especially the girlfriends who have supported me with growing my creative business and sharing the experiences of being an expat woman in Singapore.

As an artist, where do you draw your inspirations from?

From my immediate environment, the everyday: birds, nature, flowers, what I see when I’m out and about, and my children. I use Instagram now as a visual diary to record things that spark an idea. It may be a tree or a flower or an exhibition I visit. Travelling is inspiring to me, I always take a lot of photographs and sometimes have time to make some sketches for ideas for paintings.

I’m a ‘new experience’ junkie and love visiting new places or seeing new things. I never get bored as I’m always curious about the next thing. I also believe I have spirit guides or angels. There are some paintings I have created where I feel I have been given a helping hand. I have just met a gifted healer in London and I’m joining the development group to see where that takes me on my creative path. The healing arts and the creative arts are very much intertwined so I’m curious to see where this may lead me.

Up From The Ashes

What has been the biggest challenge in your life and how did you overcome it?

I have always been self-employed and have had various twists and turns with what I have done creatively. In the 90’s, I had a small business called ‘The Green Design Company.’ I had visited Brazil and the Amazon after winning a travel scholarship from University during my Fine Art Degree and this trip inspired a collection of ecological themed designs which I printed on organic cotton t-shirts initially selling through Camden market in London and music festivals such as Glastonbury in the UK.

The business grew and I was suddenly selling to independent retailers in the U.K and then overseas to Japan, Europe and Asia. Cashflow was always tight as it was necessary to pay suppliers upfront at the same time giving customers (shops) credit and there were some unscrupulous people in the retail trade who would take stock from designers on concession and then sell it in their shop and not pay up. I took one shop owner to small claims court and he just stood there and lied and lied to the judge – it opened my eyes to how unfortunately you cannot always trust people. A few similar experiences later I had to close the business.

The 90’s was a recession in England and times were tough. I overcame it by basing myself back at home instead of a rented studio in our flat in SW London and eventually, I changed what I did. I trained as a specialist make-up artist and after doing work ‘for free’ for a year or two (to build up a portfolio and contacts), I started working on commercials and fashion shoots in London, and alongside this, I sold my artwork for textile design through two artists agents – the designs were then made into fabric, and were lucky if you stumbled across your designs on the high street. One day I walked into Liberty’s of London and there was a whole section of the store dedicated to stationary and gifts made from my dragonfly design. I’d only been paid $200 by the agent so you can see I had a lot to learn from the business side of things. I had to toughen up! There have been some low times for sure, but I have good people around me – my friends and family.

Best Advice

“You just have to pick yourself up, carry on and keep creating, keep believing!”

My advice to women who want to further their careers and pursue their dreams is to never give up! Keep on keeping on, and surround yourself with positive people who inspire and energise you. The motivators of the world.

I have had many low points – near bankruptcy of my first design business I set up, professional jealousy, deals that fell through, things that make you want to give up but my husband has always replied to my ‘what do I do now?’ question with“well you just get up, shake yourself off, put on a smile and carry on!”

Nothing stays the same so when you hit a low point, you know that a high point is also part of your future.

Perseverance is the quality you need to be an entrepreneur – just stick with it and have faith, and go out with your girlfriends and have a few glasses of wine in the meantime!

Any new ventures? What’s next for you?

After an amazing 8 years in Singapore, we have relocated to England over the summer as my husband’s job got promoted to London. However, my business continues to operate in both Singapore and London and I will still visit Singapore for exhibitions and events in between working on new collections of paintings in London. Many of my clients have asked if I will do a ‘London Landmarks’ collection of paintings next as I spent four years painting Singapore Landmarks. I guess it’s a natural progression and I’m out and about gathering inspiration and photographs for what may be my next collection. I am also preparing to start a commission painting of a ‘Ginger Lily Flower’ for a Singapore-based client and also get my coffee table book of my Singapore paintings materialised.

Alongside this, I have had some figure paintings accepted for an exhibition in November in Venice called The Body Language at Palazzo Ca Zanardi & Venice Art House – Italy. Check it out here.

Paintings for a series called ‘Tea at Nan’s’ inspired by my grandmother’s love of baking and serving tea from china cups. Prints of this series will be available on my online shop soon!

Visit Clare Haxby Art Studio page to find out more about Clare’s work.