"I don’t really know if my paintings are surreal or not, but I do know that they represent the frankest expression of myself” - FRIDA KAHLO

Purple illuminated forest scene with gnarled trees and fallen leaves on the ground.

As a kid, I was always drawing, painting or making something, and this carried on in many forms throughout my early adult life. At university, while studying English Literature and Media at Sussex Uni, I made short films, wrote music features and reviews for the student newspaper, and made many fancy dress costumes for our student parties (sorry to any early noughties neighbours of mine!). After uni I took Foundation Art at Brighton College and discovered my love of working on anything big, and struggled with my lifelong trait of being far too over ambitious with my ideas.

A roller coaster ride at an amusement park with a sign that says 'The Tiger' and people walking around.

After working as a writer in various forms, I signed up for a Screenwriting MA at UAL. I learned so much about story, and I loved creating worlds. When I graduated, I put on scratch nights and theatre shows as one half of Roar Creative Productions. My love of art still came through with prop making for shows and cinematography for short films and animations. You can see some of my creative endeavours on my YouTube channel.

Color-filtered image of a garden with various plants including small pine trees, succulents, and grasses, all tinted in shades of purple, blue, and orange.

When the pandemic came, like many people, I spent lots of money on art supplies and then figured I should actually spend some time using them. I started following a daily drawing hashtag on Instagram and began drawing the prompts that were shared. Soon, I was hooked and spent the rest of the pandemic trying all kinds of online courses, including a portrait course, which kicked off my interest in drawing and painting people.

Colorized photo of a beach with a pebble shoreline, a wooden breakwater extending into the water, and a sky filled with pink, purple, and yellow clouds.

In September 2022, I started the City Lit Year of the Figure and Portrait course in London. Drawing and painting from life pushed my skills and helped me to explore what interests me about the figure and what doesn’t. It also helped me to experiment with which materials I like (paint, pens and pencils), and which I don’t (charcoal - too smudgy and scritchy for me!).

Close-up of layered succulent plants with vibrant, false-color enhancement.

Since then, I’ve been exploring my personal style and discovering my own visual language. I’ve moved away from representing realism, and prefer the surreal and uncanny sense created when I draw and paint images from imagination.

Now in 2025, at the grand age of 40, I’m focused on creating my first body of work for a solo show as well as setting up my shop to sell prints and original artworks (all while continuing with my day job as a Senior Digital Content Lead because - let’s be honest - we all have day jobs these days!).