This will be the first time I show anything I’ve created to anyone other than my husband and dog in over 10 years… because, yes, since that last time, I got a dog and a husband - the latter being something I always said I never ever wanted! But then, when I decided to stop creating, “get a steady job” and stop spending so much time alone in a studio, I also believed I would never look back, let alone produce all this new work and want to do an exhibition again.

I felt so elated after doing a sketch again for the first time about 3 years ago. It was like meeting a really good old friend again. It was all “still there”, but I was different from when I’d left off and, like with some friendships, it was all just waiting to be picked up from where we are now. We could blame the dog, the husband, the highs and lows over the years since until my now “mid-life” age but the way in which I work today is very different from what I did when I first started making art.

There are some aspects in my previous works which I can no longer relate to – they belong to a different time in my life and time has passed. There are other aspects that have not changed: I still look for that thing that makes you stop and think, that catches your eye, your heart, that truly moves you in one way or the other and that communicates without the need for verbal explanation.

I realise now that how much or little time goes by in between each creative phase is all just part of the process – it means very little in fact. And sometimes we do just need to take some time. Time to do something different, try something else, let things catch our eye and heart, let those things move us and then see what does or doesn’t come out.

This first exhibition of my recent works, I’m doing in my kitchen and living room amongst friends and I can’t wait!

Friends, family, this one is for you. Thank you for trusting that I’d find my way back (home).

Love and thanks especially to my dear father.