“Once you get some idea that you love, it becomes a magnet, and it pulls other things that you need to it. It starts forming a story. Some things work, and some things don’t – you kind of act and react. It’s almost like the story exists in its final form somewhere and you’re just learning about it. “
David Lynch
I struggle to write artists statements as life is complicated, and my art is sometimes a reflection of this messiness. It is almost impossible to parcel it up neatly and highlight a particular thread of inspiration. I am a woman, wife, mother, chef, baker, friend as well as an artist. And this is not all, I am a consumer, an animal, spiritual being, grower, citizen, traveller, magpie… I welcome all these aspects and they all have their influence.
However, there do seem to be some constants in my artwork : these are- the mystical, and the earth beneath my feet. The pieces that I have decided to show in this exhibition were completed at various times, but have a commonality in that they were all influenced by midrashic writings about the exodus story, as well as being about place, and the searching for a promise land. The ink drawings are a visual remembering of the daily walks taken in the first lockdown of March 2020, a response to both the environment and my movement in and through it. The importance of these were not immediately apparent but they seem to have laid a foundation. These marks, together with old maps, and midrashic ideas show up in many of my subsequent paintings. Even my portraits contain these motifs and are as much paintings as portrait. I’ve included one, which was done as a commission, as an example of this strand of my work. Enquiries for portrait commissions are always welcome, but they will only be accepted on the understanding that they are part of my artistic development and they will be in the style and contain themes that I’m currently immersed in.
