Bernice Cooke Artist

Bernice Cooke Artist My name is Bernice Cooke and I am an Artist, Illustrator and writer.

What lies ahead.Graphite and chalk on paper.
31/12/2025

What lies ahead.
Graphite and chalk on paper.

I really don't do Christmas, but I finished this the other day. I'll let her tell the story.
25/12/2025

I really don't do Christmas, but I finished this the other day. I'll let her tell the story.

I Mattered (Hopi)Charcoal and chalk on paper, A2.This drawing came from a dream and took longer than anything I've creat...
18/12/2025

I Mattered (Hopi)

Charcoal and chalk on paper, A2.

This drawing came from a dream and took longer than anything I've created this year.

I wanted to slow everything down and stay with the act of looking.

"This past year has been brimming with rejections - big ones, small ones, local ones, the ones I quietly hoped for and t...
30/11/2025

"This past year has been brimming with rejections - big ones, small ones, local ones, the ones I quietly hoped for and the ones I barely admitted I wanted.
I've been sharing them in my stories - not because I am looking for comfort, sympathy or praise, but because this is the real part of being an artist that sometimes stays hidden - maybe because it upsets the carefully curated grid of Instagram life 🙄, but I celebrate these rejections, every last one, putting my work out into the world means accepting that 'no' might come again and again...... And it did.
But, guess what? I'm still here, still drawing,
still creating, still showing up for the work that moves me. I don't create because I'm guaranteed a place - I create because I can't imagine not doing it.
I know it only takes one 'yes' in the right moment, from the right eyes, in the right room.
My resilience is part of who I am.
I will get that 'Yes' and you better believe there will be tears 😘 happy ones!

Charcoal portrait of a Qahatika Girl.

"Morning Eagle - Piegan, 1910'Pencil and chalk on Strathmore toned paper.I was drawn to his expression - gentle, thought...
09/11/2025

"Morning Eagle - Piegan, 1910'
Pencil and chalk on Strathmore toned paper.
I was drawn to his expression - gentle, thoughtful, and full of stories I'll never know.

People have stories to tell, but not everyone gets the chance to be heard. As an Irish person, I think we carry the storytelling gene - it's in our bones. I imagine those long winter nights, the turf fire glowing, an oil lamp flickering, and stories, myths and legends weaving their way through the room.

I have stories too - some passed down, some born from my own life. Maybe that's why faces like this speak to me."

"Eskimo Madonna" - pencil and chalk on Strathmore toned paper. Inspired by a 1903 image from Nome, Alaska. I drew this l...
02/11/2025

"Eskimo Madonna" - pencil and chalk on Strathmore toned paper. Inspired by a 1903 image from Nome, Alaska. I drew this last month and thought it fitting to post today. There's something timeless in this quiet strength - a mother holding her child close. As children head back to school tomorrow after Halloween midterm, this tenderness feels especially close to the heart ❤️

"He wasn't fasting, just resting - and that's when the buffalo came".I keep coming back to that line about Slow Bull, th...
22/10/2025

"He wasn't fasting, just resting - and that's when the buffalo came".

I keep coming back to that line about Slow Bull, the Oglala Lakota Medicine Man. His vision didn't come in ritual or striving, but in a pause - the kind of quiet that happens after long movement.

This work in pencil and chalk on Strathmore toned paper carries that pause, that breath between fight and healing.

A bit of good news for me today. I'm delighted to have made the short list, totally unexpected, but a joy. Thank you to ...
23/09/2025

A bit of good news for me today. I'm delighted to have made the short list, totally unexpected, but a joy. Thank you to the VAA for giving me the opportunity. Feeling very grateful 💕

This is Geronimo. There are many conflicting accounts about the story behind Geronimo, with many from the Apache tribe s...
12/09/2025

This is Geronimo. There are many conflicting accounts about the story behind Geronimo, with many from the Apache tribe saying his vengeful actions weren't for the good of the tribe but that he was fighting for his own cause. I will let you decide when you read up about him. Geronimo was a prisoner of war who lost his family to violence.
Why did I create this drawing - simply because behind his head dress and appearance his eyes tell a different story.
People can dress up, wear masks, make up, hide behind titles, letters after their names, but the eyes will always reveal a different story. I hope his story won't be forgotten.

Created using pencil and chalk on Strathmore toned paper. Now framed waiting for my next submission to either a competition or gallery 🫣

Meet Lilian Bland although born in the UK she grew up in Northern Ireland. Why did I draw her, well Lilian had a fascina...
02/09/2025

Meet Lilian Bland although born in the UK she grew up in Northern Ireland. Why did I draw her, well Lilian had a fascination with flying, so much so, that she designed, built and flew her own plane. She called it the May Fly, as in it may or may not fly! A lady that followed her passion.

I drew her using pencil and chalk on Strathmore toned paper.
Here's to the women in history who follow their dreams and passion no matter what xx

This story begins with a book. I had heard of Tom Crean but I didn't know anything about him as an explorer, until my Da...
28/08/2025

This story begins with a book. I had heard of Tom Crean but I didn't know anything about him as an explorer, until my Dad loaned me a book about his life story.
😱I love reading but I can't say I'm a big fan of non fiction. But Tom's life story was just one big rollercoaster I couldn't put the book down. When I finished it I was inspired to re-create this famous photo of Tom, using pencil and chalk on Strathmore toned paper.
I submitted it to the AIB Portrait prize competition but it didn't make the short list. I was just grateful that the judging panel got to see it. Rejection can be redirection, funnily enough it led me down the path of lessor known famous people 🎉

It's not all doom and gloom 🎉🎉 a lovely feeling to be recognized 😜😘
26/08/2025

It's not all doom and gloom 🎉🎉 a lovely feeling to be recognized 😜😘

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