My first introduction to screen printing was at The Crawford Arts Centre in Old Swan in 1980. It was a disorganised mess and I don’t think I actually got to do any printing.

Then about 32 years later (sadly true.) I signed up for a “Print a Gig Poster” course. Graham Pilling (Army of Cats) ran it at The Bluecoat and I realised I’d wasted my whole life working in a factory. Graham is a great tutor and a greater-er-er artist/designer. Anyway, I knew that this is what I’d be happier doing. My job was becoming more and more stressful. I was on anti-depressants and seeing a therapist. All I wanted to do was create things.

I signed up for another course at the Bluecoat a few weeks later. Martin Kochany, who was the Print Tech at Hot Bed Press in Salford, ran this course over 4 weeks. By the end, I was hooked.

Not long after this, I discovered the Adventures in Design Podcast. I found out that there was a world of people out there who were just like me and I wanted to pack in my job and become a full time self-unemployed artist. But in real life, I had a job and had to make do with the odd session in the Bluecoat Screen-print Studio by myself.
In 2015, I booked another screen-printing course. This time it was at The HotBed Press with Nick Rhodes (switchopen.com) I learned a lot and was even more convinced that I should do something creative.

In the November of that year, a miracle happened. After getting into work late because I had to see the doctor for more anti-depressants, I was told that I was being made redundant in 6 months’ time. Work even payed for me to do official Adobe training in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

So on 17th July 2016, I left my job and became my own boss and by November MikeysArt.Biz was a limited company. The pay is crap, but the other benefits are fantastic. I am my own boss and I’m so much happier.

In 2017, I joined Hot Bed Press in Salford and produced some screen prints. Within 2 months, I’d done quite a few prints and had sold nearly all of them straight away.
Then my dad died, and I didn’t have the energy to do anything. When I finally went back to Hot Bed, I had lost all my skills. I haven’t been back since.

Hot Bed was closed in 2020 because of the pandemic, but I’m happy to say that they re-opened on the 26th July 2021. I think it’s time for me to go back.