8th July 2025

I am finding myself in the 'in between' stage right now. Having launched my last collection of work back in May, I'm now starting to think about planning a whole new body of work for later on in the year. In essence this sounds very exciting and I'm raring to go, but it's not as straight-forward as getting back into the studio and just getting my paints out. There's a lot of planning that goes into creating new work and as the saying goes, 'fail to plan, plan to fail' - I have learnt this the hard way. So, with that said I have been really busy planning and researching these past few weeks, hence why I have been a little quiet on social media. Something has got to give and it's usually Instagram! 

But alongside the creative spark, there are the practical realities I must contend with...limited time, impending summer holidays and the natural juggle of family life alongside my creative work. Right now, I’m trying to plan out work with the knowledge that structure will soon go out the window as the summer holidays will be pulling me in all different directions. That rhythm of consistent painting time which is so essential to building a cohesive body of work, can be much harder to find but I'm going to try and make it work for me, as well as getting back into my bigger studio space!

This is the honest part of what happens in between launches...the ideas are there, but the execution takes patience. I’ve learned not to rush the planning stage. Even in slower weeks, small actions like sketching, photographing, and mood boarding helps the work take shape. It’s a time of listening more than pushing as I know now that it's all about intense periods of execution versus more inward periods of planning and research.

I thought I would share some of the process and insights on how I get started on planning the new work...

Reflecting on Previous Work...

I've been looking through my last collection of paintings and I've been pulling out elements that I am keen to develop. I love the 'Magic Peony One' & 'Magic Peony Two' merging my lettering and the florals in the 'half and half' way I've presented them on the canvas. I really want to explore this composition a lot more, so I am going to be drawing on this heavily for the next pieces and I am SO excited to explore it.

Gathering Visual Inspiration...

I've also been looking through photographs I took for inspiration at Chelsea Flower Show, these photos are so inspiring and the colours and flowers instantly ignite excitement and joy in me. I find visual reference for me so important, especially taking photos and also creating mood boards. Creating boards of colour palettes and flowers has been a big part of my practice recently too. I find Pinterest an excellent tool for sparking inspiration and it's been especially helpful when I've found myself stuck in creative bocks recently. 

Sketching Out Ideas...

I'll then sketch out some basic compositions of pieces, for these it's not too difficult as I know I am going with the 'half and half' composition but it feels more real once I do this, it's like I have started the piece already!

Digital Planning...

Next up I will start to try and build compositions of a new piece, this includes placing different flowers against different blocks of colour, playing with placement and trying to create a basic composition and colour palette. I usually create these digitally so I have a canvas composition to work from as my basis. I will place the type on top of the images, again playing with the layering and placement of the type. This part can be really challenging as the lettering sometimes doesn't marry up with the image, meaning you have to either play around with scale or sometimes find a new word of phrase so that it looks right. The process is sometimes pretty long and can take a lot of trial and error but it's all part of the journey.

Visualising the finished piece...

I also like to imagine where I would like to see the paintings end up, if I visualise them in a certain type of house or a particular room, I find it helps me to bring them to life more. I like to envisage them hanging on a wall in their frame, what colour that frame is...every detail is imagined and planned, of course this might change but I find this way it really helps me to build the work up in a cohesive way as part of a collection of works. 

Once I have gathered all of this together, then I am usually ready to start the pieces - and coincidentally this is exactly the stage I am currently at now!  I'm also going back to my previous bigger studio in Ahsdown Forest this week too, so I'm hoping the extra space and different location away from home will allow me to really get into my flow. Watch this space, I will of course be sharing little snippets on Instagram too so make sure you're following along.

Thanks for reading!