I’ve always been an inquisitive, creative soul, with a passion for Nature and the Arts and what you might call a ‘have a go’ attitude. I was taught to sew and knit by my mum, first taking up the needle at the age of three, later learning to use her sewing machine, and, in my teens, making some of my own clothes, and teaching myself things like macrame. As a child, living in central London, I longed for the countryside and loved gathering wild flowers and leaves from the hedgerows in Devon and Cornwall at holiday time, which I would examine, look up, press and later draw and colour. This fascination with the natural world continues today.
I went straight into office work after sixth form, convinced I wasn’t clever enough to do a degree ( a ridiculous theory that I disproved back in 2014 with The Open University). Hubby and I moved to the Forest of Dean from London over twenty years ago after he suffered sudden disablement through spinal trauma. We wanted a new start, and found it here. I studied City & Guilds Embroidery locally and that course channelled my creative side. Since then, I’ve continued to embroider, and have tried lots of art and craft techniques, from painting candles to wet felting, and participating in workshops and craft fairs. I’ve painted commissioned wedding cards, designed and painted wall murals and scenery for school productions, I’ve made soft furnishings, and I’ve designed and stitched costumes for short films. I had an exhibition of some of my painted works in Hereford, and I co-wrote and ran a one-day creativity workshop with a life coach friend.
This brings me to the present. I’m currently working on creating my first collection of textile art, and continuing to explore art and textiles. My 2018 Nature Notes textile journal is waiting to be hand bound and finished. Both of these projects are heavily focused on the flora and fauna of my local area. I love where I live and it is a rich and varied source of inspiration for my work. My textile art collection is based on a selection of birds native to the Forest of Dean. My Nature Notes journal documents a year in nature, and is also an adventure into the world of mixed media and hand-made books which have fascinated me for years.
I believe that we are all, at heart, creative visual beings, and that we should explore our creativity rather than doubt it – the only way to do that is by ‘doing’, by ‘starting’, and not waiting for the ‘perfect idea’ or the ‘perfect thing’. I know we all do this because I’ve done it, too! In my humble opinion, the perfect thing doesn’t exist, and everyone’s work shifts, changes and progresses through time in any case. I have recently contributed to a craftivism art project in the USA that focuses on endangered species, and I plan to experiment with lino cut and print techniques, and collage art. I intend to document my creative experiments and findings on this website, as a resource for other creative souls.
