Since I discovered the term in the early noughties, I've been calling myself a "cultural creative" i.e. someone whose core values include altruism, self-actualisation and spirituality. The term was broad enough to cover the wide range of creative paths that I had trodden up to that point and would continue to expand upon.

What I hadn't been able to admit to myself, or to anyone else, was that I had spent my life thinking I was the "ugly duckling" — never "fitting in". As I was doing the series that I called "The Corona Collection" it dawned on me that my "difference" was in fact my strength: yes, I'm a woman who was born into a world still dominated by men, and left-handed in a world designed for right-handed people, but as such, I'm part of a generation quietly getting on with the business of transforming the world I live in. The final university dissertation that enabled me to become an Art Therapist was even entitled "Let's make a difference" because that was precisely what I intended to do after graduating and is indeed what I did. Until my nervous system was little more than a pile of ashes and I was all burned out.

Since I started publishing my artwork on the Internet in 2020, a lot has happened in my personal life and around the world. Do you remember where you were when you learned about the first lockdown? All I remember is being pleasantly surprised how quiet the town was one day when I went off for an appointment, then how annoyed I was when I got there and the office was shut, then how I laughed when I got home and a neighbour explained what was going on. I had been so engrossed in the series of portraits I was producing, I hadn't even heard of the pandemic that had gone all the way round the world!

In 2022 my mother died and the painting stopped. But my heart was suddenly filled with music and I wrote lots of songs before the hunger for colour returned and I started working with pastels again.

In 2024 my dad died and again all I wanted to do was to sing.

This year, just as AI imagery started to become unavoidable, I was inspired by the Irish painter Aly Harte and got my paints back out. However, instead of restricting myself to either abstract or representational, I decided that, just like art and music, I can do both. Same thing with the media I use and so I've started using both acryics AND oils and am thorougly enjoying the process.