My practice explores colour, texture, layering, and tonal values to create a suggestive visual outcome. I approach a painterly quality through the influence of personal experiences and provoking emotions in the viewer. I am fascinated by the process of gestural mark-making with mixed media. Researching existentialism and psychological analysis has led to the study of my identity through self-portraiture and abstraction. Recently, I have experimented with abstraction and abstract expressionism to explore the act of mark-making and how this can be interpreted differently by each viewer. Reducing an image down to its simplest form allows the emotional value to control the output of the image and an overall explorative theme to hold the viewer’s attention. The ongoing theme of absence leads to the viewer being pushed to a focal point or a deeper analysis of the work they are viewing. I enjoy analysing the depth of an image and finding what I am drawn to, then reflecting on this to create a new image. The simplification of an image can become vastly spatial to the viewer through colour choice, forms and tone. I want to create a space on a surface that allows the viewer to explore beyond the initial imagery and find something new within that they are drawn to. I hope I can create a calming experience and the chance to engage the viewer’s mind to analyse my paintings.