My work is very personal because I operate on the belief that I am the best person equipped to tell my own story. I value communication and being expressive but I am quite reserved and find it difficult sometimes to let my guard down and open up to people, turning to creativity helps bridge that gap. I am able to express my vulnerabilities without talking too much, something I don’t really enjoy doing, and I feel seen/heard when an audience views my work and is able to connect with it.

 I want to investigate the different stages of my life, exploring the various themes guiding each stage. Each piece stems from a past journal entry. Creating is an essential part of my healing process, with journaling taking place at the start and paintings coming out at the end of it. I believe re-reading my written thoughts places those emotions somewhere in my subconscious, and I go about my days carrying them around not realising they’re with me. I’m usually doing something as mundane as taking a shower or drifting off to sleep, when I see a finished painting in my head. Feeling those emotions subconsciously paints a picture in my head that I am forced to bring to life. The subject matter is clear in my mind, and everything else including the composition and colour palette seems to flow with my emotions pretty easily. Being able to combine photography with digital and traditional painting gives my work multiple dimensions and breaks my process into different stages, giving me a bit of structure whilst remaining flexible at the same time. I am able to remain curious and experimental in each stage but I am most excited when I make the final brush stroke on my canvas, it means I have embarked on a mentally, physically and emotionally tasking journey and successfully arrived at my intended destination. 

The way I paint is not something I’ve consciously developed over time, in my experience I’ve figured it’s something that occurs naturally. I don’t place any expectations on myself and just give my hands the freedom to pick a direction and create a flow according to the energy of the painting I’m working on. The only thing that has been important to me, in my journey as an artist, is being able to express myself. It doesn’t hurt that I have a recognisable style too. The intentionality when it comes to the composition comes from my background in photography, I see the world in photo frames so it makes sense that the art I create tows the same line. My palette choice is also intentional because my subject matter is usually heavy or very emotive and I like to balance the full painting out with rich and inviting acrylic colours, which I believe brings each painting to life.