How my love of art is supporting my amazing ski racing journey

I'm on a mission - to train hard and get to the very top in my sport. Two years ago, I thought I'd use my love of art to help fund my training costs. I've launched this website to sell my hand-drawn gifts, with a mountain and nature theme. The products all feature my pencil sketches and are unique.

Being the best at any sport requires many hours of training, both on snow and off snow. The cost of training, equipment, and competitions is expensive.

I started my Facebook page (Molly’s Mountains) in 2019, when I was 13 years old, and began selling some of my drawings and paintings to help support the cost of my ski racing journey. I’m building on that success by launching my shop, where I am selling hand-drawn gifts. How amazing to combine the things I love doing most – skiing and art.

Skiing and racing are a way of life for me. And for my brother Mattie, too. We grew up bilingual, living and going to school in both the UK and France. For me, a big milestone was being selected to race for my country in the GB Under 14s junior alpine ski team. I’ve now made the Under 16s squad, so I am over the moon.

Putting in the hard work and enjoying the adventure

In winter, I spend up to 25 hours per week training on snow, both with my ski club coaches and my parents, who are ski teachers. We also travel all over the Alps to compete in both national and international races. And that’s not forgetting I have to fit in my school studies! It does require hard work and determination, but I'm loving every minute of this big, fantastic adventure!

In summer, we also race train on the European glaciers in Austria, France, Italy and Norway. I always learn from visiting other countries.

When at home in the UK, I attend a lovely school in Surrey. I also enjoy fun, cross-training activities – strength and conditioning, netball, wakeboarding, cross-country, running, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, and more!

My dad trains us, too. Every other day, we take our dog Toto and train outdoors at our local heath. Walkers must wonder what we’re doing when they see me sprinting up the hill, pulling my dad behind on a bike!

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MOLLY hand-drawn gifts launch - just in time for Christmas

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MOLLY hand-drawn gift products include a tote bag, tea towel, drinks coasters and fridge magnets. They are unique, practical and make great stocking fillers for Christmas.

Please take a look at my online shop and help me on my incredible journey. Thank you.

A colourful start - and the launch of MOLLY hand-drawn gifts website

I love to be creative! So I came up with the idea of selling my paintings and drawings to help pay for ski training. My first commission was to paint a very special pair of skis after they'd been right around the world on a ski trip of a lifetime! Now I've launched my website selling unique hand-drawn gifts with designs inspired by the mountains and nature.

In 2020, the start of lockdown, I was asked to complete a really fun art commission. My family runs an instructional ski holiday company in France, and one of our lovely guests called Ashley asked me to paint a story on a very special pair of skis! He had taken them with him on a one year, ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ ski trip around the world. What do you think?

Ashley has holidayed with us, and skied with my dad, for over 30 years. He had so many great stories to tell about his year out chasing the snow. He visited no fewer than 42 different countries on the trip. So I used the flags of those countries as my inspiration for the design. It took 15 hours of sketching and working out how to tell the story to finish them. Ashley loves them – and I do too.

My art story - and MOLLY website launch just in time for Christmas

Back in 2019, with encouragement from some of our guests who wanted to buy my drawings, I started my Molly’s Mountains Facebook page. The aim was to sell my art to help support the cost of my ski race training.

On the back of that, I’ve now started my MOLLY website, selling a range of unique hand-drawn gifts. It's so exciting to think that people all around the world can see my work online.

I love all mediums but mainly use pencil sketches for the MOLLY gifts range. My products are inspired by the mountains and amazing natural world around me.

I’ve always loved art. My grandpa is a brilliant artist and he inspired me to start drawing. And at primary school I had an amazing art teacher called Mrs Pandey. She really motivated me and developed my skills at a very young age. Now I’ve just started my art GCSE course at school.

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Please visit my website shop and help me achieve my ski racing ambitions

MOLLY hand-drawn gift products include a tote bag, tea towel, drinks coasters and fridge magnets. They are unique, practical and make great stocking fillers for Christmas.

Please take a look in my online Shop and help me on my incredible journey. Thank you.