Artist Brings Joy
With The Little Things In Life
Preston-based artist Kerri Cunningham is spreading joy online with her heartwarming sketches and poems. Under the name Murphy’s Sketches, she shares relatable moments of motherhood and everyday life, inspiring others to embrace their creativity. Ali Gudgeon finds out more
Inspired by her eldest son Murphy and her love of sketching, Kerri has been busy producing poems, prints, cards, scrapbooks and even children’s books to the delight of her growing followers on social media.
Kerri explains: “I have always loved drawing and painting. It was always my hobby growing up, even from being a little girl. My prized possession as a child was my Crayola colouring pencils – I loved to put them in colour order! I can still vividly remember winning a prize at school for a drawing of a dog, I just loved colouring, drawing and painting.
“I went on to study art at Runshaw College and then Euxton College, which led to a degree at the University of Central Lancashire where I studied Fine Art. But I left it behind to go out and get a ‘real job.’ It’s funny now because I think there’s a strong resemblance at times between the work I actually produced for my degree show and some of the work that I do now. Back then I was working on vintage children’s illustrations and now I’m working on illustrating children’s books alongside my print and card business so it’s almost come full circle.”
It wasn’t until Kerri became a Mum that she picked up a pencil again and remembered how much she loved drawing and creating. “Colouring in dinosaurs with Murphy just wasn’t cutting it for me so I decided to start selling portraits. Never in a million years did I think that I would sell one, let alone end up drawing hundreds and my drawings would end up hanging in so many homes across the UK.
“I built up my business through Instagram and had many loyal customers and followers who I am eternally grateful for. In 2021 when I had my youngest child, I took some time off from commissions and started making and sharing more personal content. I shared poems, illustrations and lists on my Instagram account and the response I got was incredible. I was more touched than I can say that my work seemed to resonate with so many people. I’d just become a Mum again for the third time and I opened up about many issues that had affected me in my time as a mother and I had many messages from so many Mums who had experienced similar things and who could relate.”
Kerri’s first published book ‘A Book to Brighten Your Day’ is a heart-warming collection of illustrations filled with stunning drawings, life-affirming words and inspirational poems. This was followed by a children’s book ‘There is a Season’, a collection of poems for each season of the year. It takes you on a journey from April showers in spring, to the frosty mornings of winter and everything wonderful in between. Kerri adds: “I am so immensely proud of this book. It really was a labour of love and I had the most fun making it and have loved seeing people enjoy it too.”
Talking about her books, Kerri said: “I teamed up with a local bookshop in Chorley called Ebb and Flo and offered signed or dedicated copies of ‘There is a Season’ and I spent weeks in the summer holidays sat up signing books and dedicating them with special messages for their children or grandchildren and that just meant the world. I wouldn’t be able to do this job without those people. One of the loveliest things is to hear that the book is being used in classrooms around the UK as well and that children are learning from those poems and illustrations, it’s great.”
Kerri also made headlines when in September 2022 she made a drawing titled ‘Hello again Lilibet’ as a reaction to the sad news of Queen Elizabeth II passing away.
“After it went viral, much to my great surprise, I had many requests to buy the image. Considering the nature of the drawing I only wanted to sell it if all the proceeds went to charity. The MPC LTD reached out to me and offered to print the drawing to raise money for charity. Together we raised almost £18,000 for the NSPCC. I then created a collection for the NSPCC as part of their Christmas campaign in 2022 selling prints, jumpers and tote bags. I am immensely proud of being able to use my platform on social media to help this charity.
“My family is my world,” Kerri adds. “My children are my constant inspiration, fuelling my passion for writing and creativity. I love capturing the joys and challenges of everyday motherhood on Instagram, connecting with other parents who can relate to my experiences.
“I’m also thrilled to be working on children’s books, a project that has reignited my own childlike wonder. It’s incredible to see the world through their eyes and translate those experiences into illustrations. I’m particularly excited about a current project that allows me to create art that holds special meaning for my children and me.
“But it’s the simple, often overlooked moments that truly inspire me. The mundane, the silly, the heartfelt – these are the things that make life beautiful. My children have taught me to appreciate these little joys and I love sharing them through my writing and illustrations.”
As we start a new year afresh, I asked Kerri what her followers can look forward to. “I am working on a book at the moment which will be out this year so watch this space! Now that I’ve started, it’s all I can think about really is making more books. I have enjoyed the process so much; it almost took me back to those uni days of just drawing and creating wonderful illustrations (with many distractions from the kids thrown in this time around though!) I have lots of ideas for books whizzing around in my head now so I hope there will be many more in the future. I’m always working on seasonal collections for my print and card website as well and hoping to carry on being busy with that this year.”
