Headstrong

Original abstract painting. Acrylic on canvas, 90.5cm x 65.5cm (unframed). 2023. Video here, via my Instagram. 

"Headstrong was my first abstract painting. I started it in early May of 2023, during an incredibly emotionally turbulent period in my life. Barely a month prior, I had quit my job in journalism due to burnout/depression and simultaneously experienced the breakdown of a 6 1/2 year relationship."

"When I sat down with my mum's paints and canvases, I was simply looking for a distraction. Playing with bright colours and experimenting with different shapes, textures and colour combinations immediately took me out of my head. I realised that creating gave me somewhere to channel my energy and 'put' the constant swirl of stuff from inside my busy ADHD brain."

"To me, this style of painting is about processing emotions and getting the tangled mess of my thoughts out of me. I like to think of the resulting artworks as a testament to what I was processing at the time of making - crystallised on canvas. Now that I consider it in retrospect, I think this piece is also about learning to appreciate the beauty in chaos and to see the world in colour again."

"Headstrong's companion piece, Heartstrong, was created five months later in September 2023. Where Headstrong speaks to the Divine Masculine, Heartstrong represents the Divine Feminine."