There are some amazing artists on Instagram, my feed is full of them. Contrary to common opinion (mostly about Influencer and Celebrity profiles), they don’t make me feel inadequate in my abilities – quite the opposite – they make me feel inspired!

I came across a truly exceptional artist on Instagram recently, @psdelux, whose profile page is filled with the most outstanding pencil sketches and digitally enhanced drawings I’ve ever seen. He has 136k followers and impressive engagement (which is well deserved) – his latest post has 18,145 likes at the time of writing!

His art has evolved enormously throughout the 6 years he’s been posting, from beautiful fantasy landscapes, with rich colours and intricate detail in his early days, progressing through a series of hyper realistic animal and portrait studies, to technical creature studies on toned paper. His most recent works have evolved in to pencil sketches of animals which I can only describe as architectural. His style reminds me of Da Vinci’s vitruvian man – geometric yet fluidly artistic.

By looking through the images on his profile, I found myself following @psdelux’s journey on Instagram. I’ve read the story he has told me through his art and I have watched him develop and grow as an artist with each new drawing he posts.

This lead me to question what story my Instagram profile is narrating.

My artwork is still experimental – I haven’t quite found my style yet, although I know I’m getting close. I’m quite content doodling whatever pops into my head at the time, but if I were to hang all my canvases together in an exhibition it would look like they were done by several different artists. So I guess this is how my Instagram profile comes across – that is, after all, my online gallery space.

I began to think of famous artists and their unique styles – Picasso for his use of collage, symbolism and cubism; Jackson Pollock for his drip paintings and abstract expressionism; Andy Warhol for screen printing and Pop Art; Frieda Kahlo; Damien Hirst… When I hear these names an image of their iconic work immediately springs to mind, it’s what they’re renown for. Just as @psdelux is recognised on Instagram for his architectural pencil sketches.

It seems that having a style is ultimately what gives an artist their identity. How they developed it is the story.

There are many successful artists on Instagram, each with their own unique story to tell on the journey towards discovering who they are.

My style is still in development, but fingers crossed the story will be a compelling read!

Follow me @kim_aaronricks

I recently entered the Chelmsford Open Art competition and am thrilled to announce that two pieces of my artwork were selected for exhibition at Chelmsford Museum (in Oaklands Park, Moulsham Street)!

The exhibition was opened by renown international artist John Doubleday on Friday 2nd December, and runs from 3rd December 2016 to 5th March 2017

As an extra surprise, one of my paintings was chosen to be exhibited in the feature display window outside the museum! My other painting can be viewed in the main gallery space.

Expectations belong to their creator and them alone.

It is only when you stop expecting people to be perfect that you can discover who they truly are.

“I do my thing and you do yours. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, then it is beautiful. If not, it can’t be helped.”

– Frederick Perls

True love is unconditional. It blossoms without demand, rules or expectations.

An ideal exists that we must have true love to be happy, but how can a heart understand or indeed want this sentiment unless it is experienced first-hand by the self? So much time is spent loving others and presenting ourselves as someone else’s ideal, that the sense of self-worth is over-shadowed by what others believe to be worthy.

To love is to feel complete; to feel whole. Forming a cocoon of quiet tranquillity allows the spirit to rest and nurture itself outside of the world’s demands, creating a pure and satisfying sensation of wholeness and inner true love.