I make art for all sorts of people, places and projects. By deeply listening to your vision and how this resonates in my own experience and then opening to the mystery, I create relatable artwork that tells a story.
Some examples of my commissioned work…
Held, Be Held
This one is not strictly a commission but the process was similar in that I held a person in mind and allowed the mystery to reveal itself on the page, with the intention that I would gift the piece to that person, a dear friend from whom I learn so much. She is the kind of person that animals gravitate to and she has a deep connection with the trees.
Prayer to Rhiannon
'Prayer to Rhiannon' celebrates Jackie Singer's epic journey with her one woman show 'Rhiannon Unbridled' about the Celtic horse goddess and Jackie's own personal story from compliant silence to awakened female power. Jackie’s work resonates with me deeply and it has been a joy to work together over the past couple of years. It involved us co-creating a voice sanctuary/workshop with themes from her show and culminated in a community ritual, which started at the Ashmolean Museum and ended at the Uffington White Horse.
Some limited edition giglee prints of Prayer to Rhiannon are available.
The Courtship of Innana and Dumuzi
These two pieces were commissioned as a wedding gift and based on the Courtship of Innana and Dumuzi. The bride recipient of the gift is an inspiring linguist who reviews Sumerian poetry and translates it through a feminist lens. My client who commissioned the artwork for her friend’s wedding chose a Mesopotamian poem which the bride had translated, enabling me to include the Cuniform symbols in the artwork. The two pieces have been framed together, symbolising the masculine and feminine.
Wild Woman, Hare & Crow.
I was commissioned to create a unique piece of artwork as a birthday gift for my client’s mum who is a Birth Keeper, a growing elder who has supported many women through childbirth and all round inspiring Wild Woman. I loved the clarity of the brief and how the mystery unfolded on the page. This piece took me into contemplation of the descent part of life, the nature of darkness and our abilities to see the invisible or unconscious through dreams and creativity.
My client’s Mum is stepping graciously into her elder-hood, getting comfortable with her authority and dignity as a wise one, as a doula and birth keeper for many years she has lived on that edge between life and death, supporting mothers to birth healthy babies as well as tending to those who’ve faced tragic loss in childbirth. Her sight is extraordinary, and terrifying to some. It was a privilege to create this piece and celebrate this essential presence.
Belief, Surrender, Awakening
Another client invited me to illustrate her book about healing from chronic pain…
The book touches on issues of trauma, self belief and awakening.
“slowly I began to accept the ground’s offer of support”
I was inspired by my client’s relationship to herself, to those who support her and her experience of nature….and I felt a nudge to include a sense of her ancestors in this drawing.
Red Earth
In 2020, as everything changed in response to the pandemic, a dear friend asked me to create some drawings for a poem she’d written about a very special place to us in Spain. During a time of no travel, we felt our longing to return to this place where we’d experienced nourishment, the wisdom of elders and a sense of connection to tribe and to the valley at the foot of the Sierra Blanca mountain range, my friends words and my decade long relationship with this place inspired these 3 pictures which we shared with our friends online…
Pilgrimage
Grandmother
Hidden in the Walls
All of Our Hands
A collaborative project with musician James Frost to create artwork for his new album - All of Our Hands (Release date TBC)
Along with other artists I created images on the theme of hands.
From the album title song - “It takes all of our hands to build a brighter world”.
Handmade.
I love handmade and homemade things, those things which come with time and attention and whisper something of the soul. I was first introduced to the notion of a handmade life through the story of the Red Shoes in Clarissa Pinkola Estes book ‘Women who Run with Wolves’. In the tale we see a child lose the red shoes she has fashioned for herself and replace them with shiny new red shoes, at great cost to her soul. This picture is in honour of all the hand-makers.
Day of the Discomfort.
This piece was created on the day of the Dead, with appreciation to Frida Khalo, who had such capacity to make art from the mess. Thank god for artists like her who can be with their discomfort, bearing life and all its unbecoming qualities in a way that gives them insight and access to universal truths that speak to our hearts and illuminate our world in these dark times.
New Born.
I’ve come to realise this piece was inspired by an old photo that must have been registered in the back of my mind of my niece held in the hand of her great uncle (it became a more feminine hand in the drawing) shortly after she was born. She was the first newborn I really got to know, to learn from her tiny cues, her receptivity and subtle communication. I love her so much! She will soon be 19 and she still amazes me in so many ways.