Works I’m Cooking Up for 2025

Having had two cracking exhibitions this year, my treasure chest of works is much depleted (exactly what I hoped for) and now I have room for new thoughts about making new works.

There was a dip of course. The energy it takes to exhibit, the anticipation, the setting up, taking down, and manning the show for the week is a lot. I love it all, and still, it’s a lot.

So recently, I’ve been on an intentional go-slow.

Which is not my natural state….

I’ve been cooking, thinking, walking, sleeping, and closing things down - then I picked up my paintbrushes for absolutely no reason at all. Just to play.

This raised questions about what I’m going to paint. I settled on a thought of which went something like this…

Why don’t I paint something fresh in my mind which happened recently…

and so I began - this is called ‘String of Connection’.

‘String of Connection’.  A3 Portrait on Birchwood Panel

This painting tells the story of an exercise we did at our recent ‘Artists, Makers & Creatives Day’ held here in Woodbridge a couple of weeks ago.

22 women came together for a workshop and meet-up. All are independent makers with 22 different businesses.

We began our day with an exercise called ‘String of Connection’ that I learned when I went to an Eden Communities Camp weekend nearly 15 years ago. (An incredible experience by The Big Lunch and The Eden Project).

Each member of the group was invited to hold the ball of string and say what they struggled with most about being an artist (maker or creative).

Once they had finished, they held one end of the string and passed the ball over to someone else in the circle (there were 20 of us so a biggish circle).

By the time we had finished, everyone had a corner of string in their hands, together we held up a web which signified our connection to one another

At the end of the exercise, scissors were passed around to cut your string, until everyone had their own length to take home and hang up in their workspaces to remind us that we are not alone. (I've tied mine around a few paintbrushes and enjoy using them all the more).

It was a beautiful experience which immediately came to mind when I picked up my brushes to paint.

This type of painting is called ‘Narrative Painting’. The last time I painted in this genre was 2016-18.

I feel a calling to return to these paintings- so am going to be exploring more by taking my sketchbook wherever I go, gathering inspiration, and getting clear in my mind why.

I feel that all will unfold, but, for now, it’s been lovely chatting with you.

Much love

Sam x

Ps, you can read more about Narrative Painting here