The Bus Journey is part of a series I painted when attending Central Saint Martin’s for a course on Abstraction. This was a course I had wanted to partake in for a long time, but my sensory issues and the overwhelm this could lead to put me off. Finally, I joined the course and created an ‘ammunition pack’ of all the things that I could factor in and control – and put this into action. Each morning, I had to catch the bus from my friend’s flat to the course. To cope, I had my big headphones, huge hood, comfy clothes, a personalised playlist – and a mini sketchbook and pen at hand. To distract myself, I would do quick, jagged line drawings of the London landscape and other stimuli I experienced – both internally and externally. This series of short drawings eventually became ‘Bus Journey’.

 

"While taking in a new environment, I jot down sketches and journal my reactions, to help build a new collection of paintings. My process often starts this way – taking in a new space using all my senses and translating this into line and form. It feels like a journey, both literally and metaphorically”

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‘Transitions’ is a series of paintings that led on from ‘Bus Journey’. I took the theme of journeying, as I spent a year living in Colombia, Guatemala and New York City. I used a lot of public transport, but these paintings didn’t end up being about this. I found ‘Transitions’ to be a fascinating theme, as I contemplated fluxes in life in general, reflected upon my thoughts and the human condition – and ultimately what we as human beings have in common. Being in Colombia, I reflected a lot on the refugees coming from Venezuela – and the privilege I had to be making my journey through choice.

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“The next step is that I look to translate the marks in my sketchbooks and descriptions made in my journal into compositions. These would then create a basis for the paintings. Each is formed of line and shape, and there’s a great deal of rhythm and rhyme which can be both viewed and felt within the paintings. The black lines show this as they weave in and out; in front of, and behind the scenes of life. There are stops and starts. Sometimes it’s stilted. It’s not what we expected. Like the human spirit and how we live our lives”.

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'Memories' is the most recent work in this exhibition, which was based on Covid-19 and memories – and my experiences between the two.

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 The exhibition was shown online only, due to COVID-19 restrictions.