Who am I?

Nice to 'meet' you!

Considering I'm starting a new blog I thought I should probably introduce myself and give you a bit of an explanation!
My name is Katy, I'm a 21 year young art student and I live in a shared house with three lovely girls in Somerset, England. My parents, younger sister (who is often mistaken for my twin), and boyfriend of three years all live on the South West coast of England, and I often travel between the two with three businesses, and a thirst for creative craziness!



When I was younger I had lots of imaginative ideas of what I wanted to do when I grew up: In primary school my friend and I planned to open a bakery where we could paint art and bake delicious cakes to sell together, but we gradually drifted apart and so did our dreams. When I moved to secondary school I made new plans with a new friend: we dreamed of opening our own bridal shop designing dresses and helping brides create their perfect wedding. Somewhere in my parents house I have a notebook full of sketches of dresses I'd liked or designed myself. Again, my friend and I grew apart and our future plans did too.

I landed my first real job by chance I guess! I was taking product design for my GCSE's, and we had a guest teacher come in to talk to us about textiles. I decided I wanted to make a 50s style shirt dress, so I asked her for advice and she invited me up to the bridal shop she owned so she could teach me a few tricks of the trade. Over the next few weeks I went back to her for support and advice, and at the end of my project she offered me my dream job! Admittedly I wasn't designing the dresses myself, but at only 15 I had the chance to help brides find their perfect dress and feel their most beautiful on one of the best days of their lives! How awesome! 

Messing around backstage at a wedding show with Ash

We had a whirlwind adventure, exhibiting in wedding shows and catwalks, I got to help backstage as well as model for a few shoots myself (although, I was so tiny my boss had to hire in dresses tiny enough for me to wear!). For two and a half years there I had many happy memories and lots of stories to tell, but in the end I decided as much as I loved it, it wasn't something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

It was during my time working at the bridal shop that I got given my first camera. It was a little blue Lumix and I carried it everywhere I went, I got nicknamed "shutterbug" within my group of friends because I took pictures of everything! I used to spend hours playing with make-up in the evenings and do little photo-shoots late into the night when everyone had gone to bed, and I had so much fun that I ended up taking A-Level photography and using make-up in my final project!

One of my late night creations

For my final project I had to take a picture of myself every day, and convey each one creatively different by portraying my emotions of that particular day. Throughout the weeks I learned a lot about myself, but the most important thing for me was that I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life.

This picture was the turning point for me, the lioness style hair and the leopard spots represent the fact I was feeling wild and courageous by stepping out of my comfort zone with a big choice, and the white tones added in were to signify that I was also calm with my decision and to represent a new chapter in my life.



So, over the next few months I applied to different colleges and Uni courses, and I was accepted onto Somerset College's FdA Media Makeup course! I spent the next two years learning an array of make-up and hairstyling techniques for film, stage and TV, and after graduating two months ago I'm currently in my third and final year of the college on the BA Media Make-up top-up course. I freelance alongside Uni doing both make-up and photography for weddings, photo-shoots, proms and more, and I love love love my life!

On top of that, this summer I started a new business adventure with a good friend of mine who is now my business parter. I can't go into too much detail now but it's given me the chance to dream big and fulfil my hopes and dreams and help my friends do the same thing, so when I finish Uni I'll be able to do all three alongside each other as they all fit hand in hand, I'm so excited!

Louise, myself and Lizzy, just some of our fantabulous team!

So I hope that's given you an insight into who I am and what I do, it's been lovely sharing my blast from the past with you, and I wish you a happy rest of the week wherever you are :)