Voyages of Discovery Within, 2017 - 2018

This journal, and its contents, are what reconnected me to, and inspired me to continue, making visual art. Some years earlier I had fallen into a state of perfectionism while creating which resulted in apathy for creativity, and I had lost all the joy associated with making art. Frustrated, I just let it go. Then, while living in various ecological focused communities in Portugal I began to feel an urge to express myself through paint and colour and form - and so I bought this watercolour journal.

The title of the journal came first, cut from an old book I had bought in Leiria, and it wasn't until some months later while painting inside of the journal, I realised that that was exactly what it was - a voyage of discovery within, and an expression of those explorations formed on paper. 

The journal is a collection of watercolour and ink-pen paintings made on a journey through Portugal, Mexico and Guatemala from summer 2017 until spring 2018. Throughout this time I was practicing nature connection and earth based land ritual, which opened me to my subtle senses and channels.

The vow I made to myself, in order to rid the perfectionism, was that everything I created would stay in the book, regardless of the outcome - and I remember creating these pieces with so much freedom, that when something went in a direction I didn't enjoy, I simply allowed it to be, often returning to a painting some months later to continue when inspiration struck.

(Click or swipe the image below to scroll)

Voyages of Discovery Within, 2017 - 2018

This journal, and its contents, are what reconnected me to, and inspired me to continue, making visual art. Some years earlier I had fallen into a state of perfectionism while creating which resulted in apathy for creativity, and I had lost all the joy associated with making art. Frustrated, I just let it go. Then, while living in various ecological focused communities in Portugal I began to feel an urge to express myself through paint and colour and form - and so I bought this watercolour journal.

The title of the journal came first, cut from an old book I had bought in Leiria, and it wasn't until some months later while painting inside of the journal, I realised that that was exactly what it was - a voyage of discovery within, and an expression of those explorations formed on paper. 

The journal is a collection of watercolour and ink-pen paintings made on a journey through Portugal, Mexico and Guatemala from summer 2017 until spring 2018. Throughout this time I was practicing nature connection and earth based land ritual, which opened me to my subtle senses and channels.

The vow I made to myself, in order to rid the perfectionism, was that everything I created would stay in the book, regardless of the outcome - and I remember creating these pieces with so much freedom, that when something went in a direction I didn't enjoy, I simply allowed it to be, often returning to a painting some months later to continue when inspiration struck.

(Click or swipe the image below to scroll)