From the earliest age I had a love affair with art and artists. Time was never better spent than when I was drawing or looking through art books (pre-internet, obviously!). My first great loves were Leonardo and Durer, followed by virtually any Renaissance masters. Later I would become obsessed with the Pre-Raphaelites, Impressionists and Secession painters, discovering the painterly worlds of Auerbach and Freud in my late teens. You might notice that there are no female role models in this list. It was only much, much later that I found inspiring women in the art world.

So it was an obvious decision to go to Art College after A Levels. Unfortunately, that is when things began to go wrong.

Bear in mind this was the 1980s. Figurative art was definitely not encouraged. While I relished the challenges of life drawing, any ambition to draw or paint things that actually looked like the subject was swiftly discounted as parochial and definitely discouraged. And there was no tuition in the technical side of painting. If I had been made of sterner stuff I would have gone against the tide and found my own inspiration. Sadly, though, I did not have the confidence to stick to my convictions, and so began decades of actively avoiding ‘serious’ artwork because, well, I thought I was too trivial for that!

A move to studying English and Art History led to a successful career in Further Education. I loved working with young people and would not have missed this for the world. While I continued to draw and paint I minimised this as ‘just’ playing.

A combination of Lockdown, stopping work and finding a fabulous community of like-minded souls through a local art class finally gave me the confidence to begin drawing and painting in earnest after a very long break. I now embrace a playful approach to making art, while being serious about improving my practice. Instead of feeling the terror of the blank page I now appreciate the potential. Instead of getting discouraged when things don’t go to plan, I recognise this as a crucial part of the creative process. Most important of all I have rediscovered the joy that motivated me all those years ago.