I create immersive and powerful paintings based on mindfulness practice and moments of intense connection with nature.
You’ll find themes of finding new pathways and embracing the complicated reality of being human. I’m a psychotherapist and the experiences I have with my clients have a big influence on my work.
Each piece is built up in layers, mirroring the intricate narratives of our lives, memories echoing into the present, some obscured and others peeking through. Although I use landscape inspiration, they are not of particular places. Instead, they are a soulful exploration of my emotional response to being in different environments.
My art is an invitation to you, the viewer, to be taken in, to question what lies beneath and explore what each work evokes in you. I’d love you to have a moment of stillness, in your present reality, and to know that it is accepted. A reminder to allow a connection to the different fragments of our experiences so we can truly embrace what it means to be our authentic selves.
Bio
I started my professional life as a teacher, working in the UK, Thailand and Indonesia. Disillusioned with a system that didn’t allow for individual expression and seeing a lot of young people in need of support I retrained as a psychotherapist. Part of training involved having extensive therapy myself and a big result of that was realising how much I was missing art.
I was always drawing and creating as a kid but I stopped due to trauma and resulting anxiety. Painting was an important part of my healing journey, and a return to living authentically had to mean picking up paintbrushes again.
I painted 100 paintings in 100 days during the pandemic to hone in on what I wanted to paint and it became clear that abstraction, colour and emotional resonance were important for me.
Now my painting practice is symbiotic with my work as a therapist. The intensity of emotion and stories I hold with clients allow for a depth in my art and the catharsis I experience painting allows me to be more present with my clients. I can’t imagine doing one without the other.
I currently live in Derbyshire with my husband, young daughter and an overly affectionate cat.
Events and Exhibitions
-2024-
Solo show, Into the Trees, Catharsis Arts Therapy
Melbourne (Derbyshire) Open Art Fair
-2022-
Derby University Art Society Showcase, Banks Mill Studios