As the ‘UK’s Most Popular Published Artist’*, Lucy is a multi-award-winning artist, proudly running a family-owned business with beautiful art galleries and a successful e-commerce website serving customers around the world.
Offering stunning original works of art, Giclée prints and striking canvases as well as ceramics, textiles, and stationery; making beautiful gifts or additions to any home. Lucy’s full body of work can be viewed online at www.lucypittaway.co.uk or in one of her galleries where her signature sheep art plus other wonderful collections are available including, Big Skies, Staycation and the highly successful Cycling collections. Galleries located in Harrogate, Richmond, Brompton on Swale, Yarm and Keswick.
What advice do you have for excelle readers who would like to explore their artistic side?
If you enjoy being creative in any form, you should explore your skills to see what talents you have within you. The main thing is to make sure you enjoy what you’re doing and experiment with the creative crafts and different tools, styles and approaches you can take. Practice really does help develop and sharpen your skill set and it’s easy to become rusty if you don’t keep going. I find when I’m relaxed, being creative really lifts my mood and makes me feel lighter, it’s a good time to listen to your favourite music, podcast or audio book. I really feel that when I’m exercising my creative skills, I am being most true to myself and expressing my personality, albeit in a visual way.
Apart from your talent as an artist what else do you attribute to this success and rapid growth of your brand?
Teamwork is one of the main ingredients for the success of our recipe, plus the drive and determination that both my husband and I have to succeed at what we are doing. We share a common goal to create a positive brand that makes people smile and feel good; and one that encourages people to engage with us. We have an amazing team of skilled staff behind us that we worked hard to find, and we understand their importance in the process of establishing and building a successful brand and company. We never rest on our laurels and don’t take anything for granted and continually look for ways to improve and adapt to the changing horizons. I would be lying if I said it was an easy journey!
Your work is famously vibrant and bold. Are you a naturally optimistic person?
At university my nickname was ‘smiler’ and throughout my childhood, teens and twenties, I was always incredibly positive. I try my best to be as positive as possible but like anyone, I’m only human and life has thrown a lot of challenges at me and still does! These last few years have been particularly challenging, and it would have been easy to lose my way and given up, or let those circumstances drag me down. But life is always about challenges, it’s a rollercoaster ride, full of ups and downs and it’s all about how you deal with that. If it rains, I try and look for the rainbows, and if I fall, I don’t stay on the ground long. There’s usually a ray of light or a silver lining to be found somewhere and I like to think that people see that in my work.
If you couldn’t be an artist, how would you make a living?
I wanted to be, and actually became a florist. I watched as my mother and stepmother created fabulous displays and I wanted to be able to do that myself.
“Creating art that makes people happy is my one goal, I hope my work inspires people to see the same beauty that I do and that it brings a smile to all those who view it.”