top of page

RWANDA 2017

I visited Rwanda 20 years ago to visit the gorillas. At the time it was 3 years after the horrific Rwandan genocide and the country was still volatile and unsafe. For our protection we stayed in a mission on strong curfew so I was unable to visit the country properly. However I got a glimpse of the beautiful hills and a piece of my heart had always remained there. Due to accepting I could never be a mother I needed to seek a new purpose for my remaining years and so it felt time to return as a Psychologist, Artist and for personal reasons. Before going I prepared myself fully with learning more about the genocide which left some graphic, traumatic images in my soul in which I felt I needed to paint as a way to let go of them before visiting the country as it is now. Since returning my images have started to show the positivity and hope within the country. 

Rwanda

In any given time we are more than one emotion 

ANIMAL PORTRAITS 2017

Having emerged from focusing on myself my personality is now showing its way through the animals in my life. I continue to explore emotions through the animals  as a way to illustrate the connection we as humans have with our pets. Like humans they still come with back stories that can be shown through their behaviours, be it nervous, boystrous etc, aswell as owners seeing individual personalities in their pets. 

​

This collection signifies a shift in style, stepping out from behind the Geisha mask, achieving an openness I have been aspiring too for some time. I am not sure if it is due to the subject matter or that I recently made the choice to take AD's as a way of managing my overactive sensory system that has enabled this new fluidity and confidence. Fibromyalgia has created a continual tension in my body which reflects into my art as, just as it loosens up I tighten it up again.  Having to find a way to create the texture of the fur may have assisted in me letting go of my rigidity. However as my confidence grew I revisited Gorilla Camp and One moment to add another layer of colour, depth and energy. I chose to paint Gorillas to celebrate 20 years since I achieved a life ambition of seeing them in their natural habitat of Rwanda's rainforest. The paintings are of the actual gorillas from film photographs taken and recently made digital. 

​

​

Animal portraits

Is it ever really possible to express our unconscious without our conscious interfering ? 

ORIENT  2016-2017

This collection emerged from an unconscious place following the creating of 'ORIENT'. Subtle elements have also been seen in other previous abstract works with the use of blossom as a repetitive pattern. Progressing from my more personal portraits that followed my path through therapy I feel a resonance with the Geisha girls; trapped behind my own mask of introvertedness and my poker face as a therapist that knowingly hides much of myself to the world, leaving me sad and alone. Internally I feel so much fluidity, beauty, sexuality and colour but it becomes trapped within my own mind.  I believe literature has played a big part in influencing my love of the orient with books such as Wild Swans, Falling leaves, 

Orient

 We are constantly unravelling and re-ravelling, releasing our tight spiral then retreating back into it….but each time we do it, it comes from a different and better place.

Abstracts

ABSTRACTS  2013-2018

This is a collection of my unconscious abstracts in which my journey back into my art and my 'self' started. None of the images were pre-planned but created through experiencing the feel and colour as it emerged in relation to how my unconscious was feeling at that given time. They were continually developing processes in response to what new was being  created.