The Origins of the Wild Women
Nature is constant, it is there to greet you with open arms, rain or shine. Growing up in the Lake District, every day was an opportunity to connect with the outdoors. The trees were secret dens, mossy banks were the best place to dream up tales of magical creatures and fairy glens. The nature on my doorstep allowed me infinite creativity and freedom to play.
The Wild Women began with how I see my relationship with the outdoors. It’s a metaphor for the unconditional acceptance and comfort the natural world offers, a warm embrace from the earth. The organic and undulating structures align themselves with the feminine in all of us, promoting a sense of openness and tranquility.
Each piece has a feminine presence grown from its surroundings. By connecting with feminine aspects of ourselves we can begin to notice our intuition spark into life, our creativity deepen and our openness to new perspectives on life. My wish is that the artworks I create will resonate with others, helping them find inner courage, peace, love and wisdom.
The ideas for the artworks usually come to me when I least expect them, when I’m at my most relaxed. The first wild artwork, Of the River, materialised in my sketchbook before I fully understood what I’d drawn. From there I saw the women everywhere; in the trees, the clouds, the mountains, like they were revealing themselves to me. I have a deep affinity with my artworks, so much so I use my own poses to sketch the compositions. I enjoy the stages of creating the women as they change and grow as I work, with the my favourite touches being happy accidents when experimenting with overlays and shading.
As I mentioned in my first line, nature is constant and the Wild Women are part of nature so intuition tells me I’ll enjoy expressing their many guises through my artworks for a long time to come.