How it all started

Well, I have always been interested in art and art history. I never really studied art at school - it just didn’t come together in art classes but I could draw and I knew I could draw. Somehow, someone got to know that I had a creative side and suggested I help out in an Art Week at the primary school where my daughters attended. I agreed, and then got drawn in to helping out weekly at the Art Classes. When they moved to senior school I offered my help to paint scenery for the school productions (4 a year). This offer very quickly turned into designing the set and creating it all by myself for 7 years! But as the children grew up and were off to university I felt very lost. I had been a full time mum and now I didn’t know what to do with myself. I thought I needed to do something for myself for a change, so I found a local drawing class and quickly started making some impressive drawings. They were large scale (112 x 82 cm) and we worked on them for 6 weeks, drawing over the previous weeks’ work. It was very satisfying and I loved the end result. Composition came naturally to me, and the drawings were full of symbology but it was not until they were finished that I understood their meaning. At the end of the last session we would look at each others work and the comments I received were enlightening and it was only then that I realised just what I had been drawing. It was a kind of therapy really, expressing some very deep rooted emotions and issues. It helped to free the mind. In 2018 I decided to select 13 of these drawings and exhibit them locally in Stroud. It was a great experience and I received some wonderful comments - all very positive. Unfortunately I was forced to take a sabbatical due to diagnosis and treatment for Breast Cancer. During treatment I couldn’t do anything creative but as soon as the treatment finished it all came flooding back. However, I now wanted to use colour. I have always had a passion for colour and I wanted to do something different. My first few drawings were drawn with my left hand (non-dominant hand) and I was astounded at the high calibre of drawing. Then I began to explore the use of paint. Firstly I tried oil paint, but it takes a long time to dry so I began to dabble in acrylic paint and inks. Now this is something I could work with. I also wanted to work in a looser way, maybe abstract. I have taken some on line courses over the last year and really begun exploring the world of expressive painting, colour and texture. So that’s where I am at the present moment.