About me

I am Bronwyn Royce and I’m an artist. I wasn’t always an artist; in fact for many years I wasn’t sure what I was. 

I have always loved art in every form yet doubted I was capable of creating anything worthwhile, especially with only 10% vision in my left eye. In 1999 a friend invited me to attend a watercolour art class with her ... I was instantly hooked. Three years later I opened my own art school teaching adults in the mornings and children in the afternoons.

Mid 2006 my two adult sons emigrated from South Africa to the United Kingdom to ultimately join the British Military. A year later I knew that I wanted to be closer to them so I closed my art school and I too emigrated from Cape Town to the United Kingdom. In my quest to attain my British passport in order to be able to remain in the country with my sons, I set aside watercolour painting to take on full-time employment managing the shop of a local artist. Meanwhile my own paints and brushes lay dormant in a bottom drawer.

A combination of a massive life-changing curveball thrown at my family in 2012, together with unexpectedly being made redundant at the end of 2016, meant that I was forced to take time out to ponder life, what truly is important, and where my focus should lie.

Putting pen to paper, fuelled by enthusiasm, and in the hope that it would reach out and inspire and motivate at least one person, I took a year off to write the first draft of a book, sharing the tragic details of how life can be changed in an instant. I found it incredibly cathartic and it has aided me in my healing process. The myth that it will ‘never happen to us’ has definitely been dispelled in my family’s life. My book 'One Step in a Poppy Field' is available from 30 November 2023.

I then began weighing up the options - should I return to employment or should I follow my heart and try to make a living from my artwork. In March 2018, finally that bottom drawer was gently and gingerly eased open and the paints and brushes removed and dusted off. In the same way as the tools were being revived, so was the artist; it was like reuniting old friends.   

Encouraged by my younger son, on the 4th May 2018 I joined Instagram and challenged myself to complete a painting a day over the next year. Some days I was pressed to get a large piece done in time and, five months down the line, I found myself stressed about meeting my daily deadline. Looking for what I assumed would be a less labour intensive option, I ventured into the fascinating world of miniature painting. My compulsion to fit as much detail into my work as I can has meant that sometimes these tiny paintings take me just as long to complete as a large painting but the response I have had to my little artworks has been unexpected and very humbling.

Thank you for visiting my website. If you have anything you would like to ask, or if you would like to enquire about a commission, please feel free to drop me a message here and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.