About Mike Hodge | Mike Hodge Art

Two things to know about me are that I love a challenge and I have always believed that if you do something you love, it never feels like work. So I count myself lucky that my professional career has included a number of jobs that played to those two points. The same rings true for all the hobbies that have come and gone throughout my life and, let’s face it, why would you take up a hobby that you didn’t enjoy?

The unusual thing about art is that it has remained a constant within my life. Like most people, I’ve found that changing circumstances often mean some hobbies came to an end and new ones could begin, but my artwork has always been there. As a hobby. As an escape. As a way to focus my mind by concentrating on something that I found magical from a very young age… How do you make a flat piece of paper look like it’s alive?

It was obviously possible, but I couldn’t do it! So, as it turns out, that became my life-long challenge!!

It had nothing to do with the career I chose, even though I often found ways of introducing creative elements into my working life. Nor was it something I needed to prove to others that I could do. It was simply a fascination, a challenge and something I wanted to be able to do for me.

Wind forward a few years, a few commissions and numerous comments to “do more with my art” later, and I started to think maybe I could do more.

Then, when a critical illness turned my life upside down a couple of years ago and presented me with perhaps the hardest challenge I have ever faced, art played a big part in helping with my recovery.

Firstly, I owe a great debt of gratitude to the fantastic staff of the NHS and to my family who have cared for and supported me through the worst period of my life. It’s not lost on me how lucky I am and, one day, I hope I will be in a position to be able to repay them.

Then, there’s art. I’d heard of “Art Therapy” but I can’t help the feeling that I am experiencing it too. Having picked up my paintbrushes again, while ‘taking things easy’ to aid my recovery, creating art has helped me to regain my focus, my confidence and a direction for the future.

It’s never had to be in my ‘job description’ before, but I have always been an artist. I always will be an artist. So this website is part of my plans to “do more” with it.

My work is frequently on display in Shrewsbury as part of the Visual Art Network gallery. I provided art to support the 2024 Shrewsbury Arts Trail and invite you to keep watching as I find further outlets to show my creations.