The work has been changing. Not only because I’m meeting the paintings in a new way, but because I’m meeting myself in a new way.
Something shifted after I turned fifty. I began to reevaluate what was truly important to me as an artist, and I found myself suddenly curious: what more might I create if I gave myself full permission? If I trusted the opportunity to go deeper. To not play it safe.
Taking risks in the studio is never straightforward. It requires a willingness to let go of familiar ground and to follow instinct into the unknown. Some days that feels exhilarating, other days uncertain, but always it feels necessary.
What I’ve come to realise is that this process isn’t just about me. When someone stands in front of a painting and feels a sense of recognition — a quiet “yes, that’s me too” — there is a shared connection. The work holds space for us both.
Perhaps that’s the real gift of art: not only to show what I’ve seen or felt, but to allow others to feel seen too.