Creativity as a proverbial life raft.

It is said, that every picture tells a story. 

As a working artist, I know this to be true because ‘being an artist’ is who I AM it is not what I DO, but creativity has been and always will be my confidant.

My paintings tell the stories of my experiences, my feelings, and my emotions, they also tell the story of how I’ve come through them, overcome them and bridged the gap to not only where I am today, but where I want to be tomorrow.

As an artist I am selfish because I paint to heal myself. But as a creative, all I strive for is to help others with their own healing.

Creativity has always been my proverbial life raft.

20-something years ago - I can’t tell you what day it was or even what month it was, but I can tell you that it was an early morning on one day during the late part of 1998 - and the first class on my timetable was life drawing.

I loved those classes.

My current creative process is founded on what I learnt during those lessons; the practice of blind drawing, something that we did religiously at the beginning of each class.

I can’t remember who my teacher was, what the weather was like nor what I had eaten for breakfast, but I can tell you that as my hand went to open the door to that life drawing class I fell to the floor like a dead weight. 

I had blacked out.

I can’t tell you whether this blackout was an accumulation of stress from months of living through my parent’s traumatic separation, or whether it was because my mother had left our family home... and I most probably wasn’t nourishing myself properly. Or maybe it was an underlying condition of my chrons, that went unnamed for years, flaring up.

But, I can tell you that when I fell outside that classroom I was alone, and when I came around I was alone. 

During those months I spent a lot of time alone. I got very used to being on my own and taking care of myself... except I was young and I hadn’t really learnt what that meant yet.

Perhaps I should say that I got very good at surviving, treading water instead.

The practice of blind drawing that I learnt in those classes brought me so much ease during a time of so much discomfort. 

An ease that I still turn to now.

The last two weeks -- a global pandemic, suffering, quarantine, uncertainty, and home school --  have reminded me what an important part my art and creativity play in helping me to feel ease during times of crisis.

The act of creating brings me solace, it helps me to stop, breathe and allows me to have a better place to go to until my outer world feels more settled.

Creativity has always been my proverbial life raft. 

Over the last two weeks, I have realised just how much those difficult years have nurtured everything that I create now.

Why I create. What I create. Who I create for, and what purpose my paintings serve in my outer world.

I create paintings that are made from compositions of shapes derived from blind drawings, each step of my creative process is based upon my search for ease in a world that I often find uncomfortable.

I lean into and paint geometric shapes with curved and straight sharp lines because it helps me to stop, slow and learn to be patient and not rush forward. I use colour as a language to talk about my search of joy in the everyday.

I paint for the people who despite that feeling, never give up and they continue to do the work that will help them bridge the gap between where they are and where they want to be.

If my paintings serve one sole purpose it is to recreate that moment of ease for you, the moments of ease that I felt during those life drawing classes back in 1998.

To help you stop, breathe, reflect, eliminate the noise and focus on your own creativity, your own proverbial life raft that will help you sail through your own rough seas.