My name is Carole Vienna Forrester, originally from Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, England. I have been painting for as long as I've been able to hold a brush. I am a published poet, illustrator, digital and analogue artist, jewellery creator and heraldic artist. I am an inveterate cloud and wave watcher.
Aside from my love of painting, I trained as a heraldic artist and set up my own business, Heritage Heraldry, making and designing heraldic wall-plaques and logos for the Armed Forces, associations and corporations worldwide. This kept me quite happy until I began to do some work for Hull Museums and Art Gallery, which gave me the marketing bug. I enjoyed producing leaflets, copy and press releases for events and exhibitions and also had the opportunity to work on two large projects, the openings of the
Streetlife Transport Museum and the Hull and East Riding Museum.
Eventually, the urge to do my own thing resurfaced and I undertook art commissions as well as painting local (and not so local!) wildlife. Much of my inspiration came from the nearby nature reserves along the Humber Estuary.
It was my interest in, and observation of, patterns in the natural world which led me to work with fractal art. The evolution and increasing popularity of technology based art, using PC's, Tablets and digital cameras, has inspired within me a wealth of creative ideas. I discovered this new digital artform in 2004
and have been developing my technique ever since. In 2013, I had my first national solo exhibition in Hull and 2014 my first international solo exhibition, in Greece.
I also love poetry and gained my BA (Hons.) in English with Creative Writing and my Research Masters from Hull University. I enjoy reading at open-mics and have had many works published in both printed and e-zines and anthologies in the UK, Spain and USA. In 2006 I took part in the Hull Literary Festival and co-edited a poetry anthology showcasing the works of 33 international writers from the Wild Poetry Forum.
Previously, I have published and painted under the name of Carole Barley, (my first name and married surname) but after a clean break and a move to North Lincolnshire, I decided to revert to my birth name Forrester, but use it with my middle name, Vienna. It was from my first foray into the cyber-world that I acquired the nickname 'Vienna', which has more to do with Rigsby's cat than the city but, in true feline fashion, the name followed me so I decided to adopt it.
I go into more detail regarding my art in the relevant sub-sections of my web site below.
