Symi Jackson

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO MY LOVELY FRIEND @danielkeys 💥🫶🏻♥️🤘🏼❤️‍🔥 Dan, I’m so proud of you and all you achieve. You deserve the world and more!!! Join us with Daniel Keys this Summer. Four day workshop still has spaces to join, five day workshop only have 1 space left! Be quick! 💨 Message me for info or to sign up >> 🔗 Workshopsinyorkshire.com 💰 payment plans are available Well done well done well done Dan!!!! #workshopsinyorkshire #danielkeys

A final round up of our time in Florence. We finished our trip with a visit to the @florenceacademyofart where we were shown around by the incredible fourth year student, @lauraespinosaart 🙃 (follow her work!) We also went to see my friend @santocesart and his lovely wife @valessvaless - they welcomed us into their home and studio for a private visit and it was magical. Out of respect to them both I didn’t video, but just close your eyes and imagine how wonderful that was. Thank you both for your time and energy! 🫶🏻 Next time…. Come to Yorkshire 🤘🏼 We headed around the Duomo, the Opera, the Vasari Corridor, Piazza Michangelo, went for some fabulous meals and finished the week off watching @joehawkins_films documentary on @quanghoart with our group at our air bnb, with home cooked food from Joe and an emotional goodbye from everyone as we didn’t want the trip to end. I’m super proud of us for biking around the city every day (Isla on the back with helmet of course) and want to say thank you to; Michelle (Grandma) - Joe’s wonderful mum who came out with us and enjoyed Florence but also watched over Isla for us so we could enjoy some adult activities (like peace and quiet during an evening meal!) 😅 All the people we’ve met in Florence who welcomed us with open arms. To friends I’ve known for years and years who just text and say come over. Thank you , forever. 🙏🏻 And to our group. Small but mighty. We wouldn’t have it any other way. We want this to be a close knit group. We love each and every one of you… I know you know where we’re going next time but let’s keep it a secret for now and let the people try and guess 😝 Over and out Florence… until next time 🥰 #workshopsinyorkshire #florence

We began our day at Galleria dell’Accademia - home to Michelangelo’s iconic The David. It was incredible to spend time in this museum. It was like a rabbit warren honestly & turned out to be a really great place to visit! After lunch, we then headed over to the Zecchi’s @zecchicolorifirenze - a real treat. I could have spent hours in there. After a quick ride on the horses, we headed for a fabulous Renaissance Tour & Wine Window walk. It was absolutely fantastic and the windows are so much fun (even for Isla!!) We are eating our way around Florence. I’m pretty convinced at this point that you cannot have a bad meal here. It’s funny how my pregnancy cravings have now moved to Caprese Salads & pistachio croissants 🤣😜 #florence #workshopsinyorkshire

Today was a day to go slow, take it easy & enjoy things at an Italian pace… We headed to a friend of mine - the incredible @thor_sculp_thor ‘s studio for a private visit. We were all in heaven! I’ve been saving up my pocket money to buy a few pieces off Thor for some time now & seeing where this magic is created was on my bucket list. Thank you for your time & for your wizardry, Thor. I’m such a huge fan. We also went to see my good friend, the maestro @mjohnangel and his wonderful wife for some lunch. It was so good to catch up & I’m honoured to say I’ll be building the maestros new website over the coming months, and working on other exciting things… (watch this space). What a beautiful, wonderful life. My cup is full today, I’m heading to bed so happy. Tomorrow we have a full and exciting day ahead… ❤️ @smartcoach.art #workshopsinyorkshire #florence #paintout #michaeljohnangel #thorlarson

Our Paint Out in Florence has begun! 🇮🇹 The first few days have gone by so quickly, but we are loving being back in Italy and sharing it with our lovely group! We kicked off the trip with a beautiful roof top bar, overlooking the Duomo & sipping on cocktails 🍹 Then we got straight into the swing of things, with a Paint Out in the iconic Piazze della Signoria. We’ve been painting the Ponte Vecchio bridge (how crazy is that bridge?!) and winding up in the most delicious steak houses. 😋 Yesterday, we took at trip to the Uffizi & the Bobboli gardens, which we are all looking forward to heading back too, as the rain came in! Joe and I have discovered the bikes, so now Isla has her helmet, off we head for some lunch with a long-time and old friend. This evening; more surprises and exciting things in store… watch this space. I feel very lucky to show up in a city and have friends message and say Come and see us!! Every day is an adventure out here and we are eating our way around Florence! #florence #workshopsinyorkshire

We’re having a blast in Florence… more pictures to follow, it’s been a busy start! ❤️

Bump is bumping! What a week! 💥 Still on cloud nine. Can’t wait to pick Isla up from nursery tonight. A huge thank you to Michelle Hawkins and Heather Wragg for being the best tag team so we could be away. I need to sleep for 24 hours! You don’t bounce back as quick when you’re pregnant 🫣🤣 All good, all worth it. ❤️ love you Joe.

What a week 💥 Portrait Society of America ✅ Jeremy’s Retrospective ✅ We are on our flight home to our Isla baby (see last pic) - a huge thank you to Grandma (Joe’s mum) and Auntie @heth03 for tag teaming and looking after our little beauty whilst we were away! We had a great time seeing so many friends, both old and new. A special conference as we announce the news of our new little bump. We split our time this year so Joe could film the opening & I could put my @smartcoach.art hat on and help one of my best mates, @lipking with his retrospective at the @boothmuseum It’s been an honor to work with Jeremy on his 30 Year Retrospective. He’s a master of our time and to be involved in a show like this is a career highlight for me. I am so grateful to have been a small part in this milestone for you. Jeremy’s Retrospective took months and months of work by so many people. To see all of Jeremy’s paintings together again and hung so beautifully, was nothing short of brilliant. Both presentations went down a storm and I’m a new fan of @jaythebirdthatsings - what an incredible voice and soul. I set up a pop up booth (I’ve ran a few in my time hey…😜) for folks to get a catalog signed, buy some merch and shake Jeremy’s hand. The catalog was a labour of love and I hope you will all enjoy reading the stories & pouring over the art work for years to come. Even better, if you can get out to the @boothmuseum whilst the show is on, I honestly cannot recommend it enough. What a place and what a show. All round just absolutely fantastic. All in all, I think we smashed it. 💥 (If I don’t say so myself). Working hard with good people and doing what we love. What more could you want other than Isla baby with us? Well, we are home soon and will be hopping straight on a flight out to Florence 🇮🇹 for our 9 day no-instructor paint out. Life’s what you make it. @joehawkins_films and I are living it. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who continues to support, love and work with us. Let me know if you want business coaching. Life can be so much fun when you step out your comfort zone, trust me, I did it and don’t regret a minute of it. #grateful

We are excited to be back at the @the_portrait_society again! 💫 And this year, even though we couldn’t bring Isla Baby, Hawkins No. 2 is with us and cooking in the oven. 🤰🏽 Come and say hello 👋🏻 Super excited to give out hugs all weekend ❤️ #workshopsinyorkshire #smARTCOACH

Excited to be heading out to the @the_portrait_society - running the @workshopsinyorkshire and @smartcoach.art booths! ❤️ My 11th year, it’ll be great to be back with so many old friends & meet lots of new folks too hopefully. Grateful to have my @joehawkins_films and our @_amyytay by my side once again! 🙏🏻 This year will be a little different. I’ll be putting my @smartcoach.art cap on a bit more this time and helping @lipking with his retrospective at the @boothmuseum 🙌🏼 I’ve been working for Jeremy for over 6 months now so I’m looking forward to seeing all the hard work pay off this weekend for his incredible retrospective. I’ll post more about the whole weekends events shortly, for now… ✈️ #smARTCOACH #workshopsinyorkshire

Happy birthday to Auntie Al, our ray of sunshine! Always upbeat, always laughing and smiling & always up for an adventure! We love you so much see you soon xxx @bfgwerns

Joe Hawkins and I started a new YouTube channel… hope you’ll give it a watch! First one is up with Todd Casey and Michael Harding Oil Paints!! Link below.