My Voice

 WARNING! This will be a long one.

As part of the Maker in Residence program, I've been encouraged to find my voice, my style, my artistic identity. In the first few weeks, this caused a serious doubt to well up inside me. I work across so many mediums that, at first I couldn't see it.

My mentor encouraged me to journal and to experiment to find it. Then this morning, while in the shower it hit me (I often get epiphanies in the shower).

I've already done all that!!!!!

Ever since my teen years I've scrapbooked, journalled, flipped from one medium to another, followed and sought many influences.

For one little moment there, I just forgot.

So here is an affirmation. (for those who don't know me quite as well as others, these images are all my own work done over the past 30 or so years. And I apologise to those who have seen these images before, though I think this is the first time I have collected them in a statement like this.)

My voice is evident in the sparkly materials I consistently choose.

It's obvious in the female faces and forms I represent over and over again.

It's organic.

It's full of spirals.

It's mystical and spiritual.

It's fantasy and whimsy.

It's foxes

Peacocks

Flowers

It's soft 

It's feminine

It can be colourful

And I try to put meaning into much of my work.

I hope to heal and help others.

And I prefer the work to be pretty or beautiful, rather than dark or neutral in over all aesthetics.

I create because I feel empty and lost if I don't.

And it's not just evident in the pieces I make, it's evident in the images I surround myself with. (These are all the work of other artists that I have around my home)

And even in the way I choose to appear.

So ...I feel like I have a well established voice and style. But I'm really grateful to be reminded of that again as I start to move forward in this creative adventure.

If you made it this far...well done and thanks so much for reading and viewing.

I really hope you come back for more, because I know I'll be posting a lot over the next 6 months as I undertake this creative journey.