Life is fleeting and I want to hold on. Mindful photography, drawing in my sketchbook, and developing my sense of gratitude really make a positive impact on my life. I love to walk more than anything and even when I’m not with my camera or sketchbook…colours, shapes and textures lead my eye as I stroll, feelings and atmosphere lead my heart – collecting small treasures, stories and inspiration.
I adore slices of light, observing how it illuminates and emphasises in different ways with shadows and highlights as the year moves on and the sun changes position in the sky. I’m always watching how the light falls in a room in a different way throughout a year and have just begun a project documenting the light in my garden studio.
I have two children who are both at school now - I am enthralled watching my kiddos grow and explore the world - they will be my lifelong inspiration I am sure. I began my career as a playworker alongside training to become a primary teacher in Nottingham - I was a early years teacher in Camden, London for several years which was I job I adored. I spent the next decade working as a photographer, at weddings and with families. So I have spent a lot of time over the years in the company of young ones - I am absolutely fascinated with how children see and interact with the world, and grow in their own unique way.
I would describe myself as an introverted extrovert, or perhaps the other way round? I utterly love spending time with people, but also need my own quiet time and space, it’s a balanced mix. I’m a big old bookworm: my bookshelf is a mixture of novels set in the past, many a Margaret Atwood, Brene Brown, beautifully illustrated children’s books both old and new, Virginia Woolf, biographies of the St Ives artists and old notebooks that I can’t bear to part with.
I’m really interested in memory, and the feeling of being home. I love people and making new connections - I find it amazing how we are all so different, yet share so many common things and experiences. I’ve always been intrigued by how the power of our senses is connected to our emotions and memory - how a smell, a music track, or finding a letter, photograph or an object in a box from years ago can take us on a journey of nostalgia. I play music albums over and over from start to finish until it feels like they’ve become a part of me.
I love layers of history, peeling back paint, asking who lived here before? Both my photography and my drawing and painting come back to this. Layers of feeling that you can’t quite put into words, expressing through images how we feel, respond or communicate with others can be a powerful thing.
