The Journey so far.

Born in Cape Town, 1973. To artist parents. Art was always in my blood. In my DNA. It was also my favorite subject at school, so I ended up taking Textile Design as an extra subject and excelled. Everybody has to be good at something. I had found my something. Then, London for 5 years. Came home to study graphic design. Drawing on different kinds of inspiration and using a variety of tools; typography, photography and illustration.

Worked at some of the top ad agencies in the country for the first 5 years of my career, then decided to start my own design company. That was fifteen years ago, and I’ve never looked back. 

Today, I live in Plettenberg Bay with my husband and three sons, two dogs and one cat. After twenty years as a graphic designer, I realized that I wanted to explore more personal creative projects and develop my art.

My creative process is a journey through my subconscious. Exploring the visual fantasy that mirrors my inner processes and pathways to self-understanding. A theme that often features in my art is my journey through addiction, that and my vivid, overactive imagination that has random images constantly surging through my mind. This is what I draw a lot of my inspiration from.

I started to use the one struggle to feed the other. Using my art in moments of unease and discomfort and channeling my feelings into my work, creating a healthy outlet for both. It was time I put my imagination and demons to good use and that seems to have worked pretty well for me. 

When starting on a new piece I generally begin with a mental visual of what I would like to say, after which I collate the images that will knit together to bring the piece to life. I use images that I’ve bought or photographed myself and start building them into the piece. Each piece grows and develops with hundred of layers of textures and images.

I feel like I become one with each piece; I really begin to feel what my character or subject is feeling. It’s almost like I am living inside the piece while I am creating it. Everything is layered with meaning and often the end result is quite different from where it all began. I allow the journey to lead me and go wherever it takes me. And each piece in this series has it’s own unique story to tell.

Not unlike my art, so, my life has led me through some unexpected twists and turns and in late 2016 I was diagnosed with a rare, cancerous brain tumor and had to undergo a lengthy and risky operation to have it removed. Thankfully I am alive to tell the tale, but my eyesight was damaged in the process.

I now have double vision – one picture is straight and the other rotated at a 35 degree angle. But with the help of corrective glasses I can see and life goes on. Precious life! I still have it. And that in itself is a gift. The experience has been terrifying, but it has taught me about the ‘now’ and how to live in it. To keep my loves close and spend more time on the things that drive me. That make me feel alive. To push more into my art, exploring my physical and emotive reality through my creative process.

I’m influenced by people, places (especially Africa) and everyday situations. By man-made shapes and natural forms. I work through a sublime connection between the nurtured and nurturing. Love, hate and fear are all emotions relevant in my parallel, private, physical transition. I’m inspired by the Surreal movement, Salvidor Dali and the likes. And I’m drawn to neutral colours and vivid brights, textures and light. I’m inspired by contrast and mystery, by life and the ever-changing mix it throws at us. And all of this eventually finds a way into my work in one medium or another. I love working with images, deconstructing and reconstructing them to form new pictures that tell a different story. 

Every project is an adventure, an opportunity to explore, a chance to engage and inspire, to have fun, to feed my passion. I get to do what I love for a living! It doesn’t get better than that.