Introducing myself

I've been on Steemit for a few months now and have posted intermittently. Now that I've got a bit of a feel for the place it's probably time I introduced myself.

I am 51 years old and live in Norwich in the UK, where I have lived most of my life. I grew up with 2 older brothers and 1 younger sister but now I just have 1 older brother. Like many I grew up in a single parent house hold and was raised by my full time working mother. My oldest brother was my hero and was a huge influence on me. My younger sister meant the world to me.

I have never fitted in to society and have spent much of my life living on the edges, and over the years I have flitted from one thing to another and have never managed to settle on anything and pursue it thoroughly. As a child and adolescent I thought I wanted to be an actor and I did pursue that for a while but I lacked drive and commitment. Art is another form of expression that doesn't need and immediate audience and so I was drawn to that. I had no innate ability but I did have stubbornness and patience, and that paid off eventually. Of course one does need an audience in the sense of making any money out of art but I hadn't thought that far ahead. I wish I had!

I live alone and work form home and can get a little isolated from time to time. So different to how I once thought things might be. I was quite gregarious as a child but have become more reserved the older I get. Still have my mad moments though.

About 10 years ago, after I had been a roadie for a decade or so, I decided I'd like to have a go at making book covers and illustrations for stories. I thought it might be a way of making money with art and also a way of getting art out into the world. As someone who has not had children I'd like to leave something behind. As an aside: not having children is probably my biggest regret. I have always adored babies and children am happy in their company... but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I still very much enjoy the work I do, though there is never enough of it, but I am trying to sell more of my own artworks now as well as working for authors and publishers.

I also write poetry. I have a small book of 21 poems available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005OAX0VM
and here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Heart-Hand-Dean-Harkness-ebook/dp/B005OAX0VM/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1387359721&sr=1-4&keywords=The+Heart+and+The+Hand

And I play classical guitar, mostly baroque, for my own pleasure.

My favourite pass times these days seem to be the garden and wildlife, and the kitchen. I should have been a farmer's wife! I like domesticity.

My website is http://www.deanharkness.co.uk/ I hope you might take a look and let me know what you think.

Thank you for taking the time to read this short intro. Please feel free to ask me anything else. Cheers!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Deanus?lang=en
Minds: https://www.minds.com/DeanHarkness
Gab: https://gab.ai/Deanus