A YEAR AFTER MY MA IN PAINTING

It's been a year since I graduated from Arts University Plymouth. Time is strange; it feels like three months and six years at the same time.

I went back to uni after a couple of decades because I realised I didn't fully understand why I created abstract paintings. I was drawn to colour, geometry, and pattern, but I couldn't articulate their significance. I wanted to study and grow as an artist, and I felt I needed guidance, structure, and time to reflect and explore my practice and understand the direction I wanted to take.

It was also about becoming me again. Living with PoTS has shifted my life in ways that often felt isolating, and I'd started to lose sight of my identity beyond illness or motherhood. Pushing past the labels "Mum" or "poorly," I hoped the MA would help me reconnect with the creative, curious version of myself I'd been missing.

I graduated from Bath Spa University in 2000 with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design/Illustration and painted for years afterwards, mostly self-taught. But I'd never had formal education in painting. I needed proper, focused time to reflect, experiment, and deepen my practice.

Returning to an art university after so long felt unexpectedly natural. The conversations, the creative energy, the sense of being surrounded by people who are on the same journey felt like stepping back into a place I didn't realise I'd missed.

Some moments were frustrating. The course wasn't always smooth sailing. I faltered, I sidestepped, I doubted. But I allowed myself to play, experiment, and immerse myself in the work. Somewhere along the way, things began to click. The MA became a space to reconnect with my practice, clarify my vision, and rebuild my confidence as an artist.

Now I know why I do what I do. Colour and pattern are innately in me, but I paint for the joy of creation and the curiosity of what I can bring into the world. I feel alive when I do this, and it is my hope that this aliveness and joy can be seen and felt in my work by others.

The MA taught me to lean into what excites me and to embrace what makes me me. My practice doesn't fit neatly into art, design, or craft, and that's exactly what makes it special. I use design principles to craft art, and I embrace it wholeheartedly.