Being a mental health nurse much of my work is concerned with monitoring and assessing mood and mental state the focus is the patient’s face and general demeanor. ‘Why don’t you paint your patient’s?’ a kind nursing friend once suggested. Unfortunately, due to the rules of patient confidentiality that is forbidden. Often patients present to services in a very poor state and I try to imagine what they looked like as a child before the terrible thing that happened to them happened!
I am a portrait artist mainly working on canvas with oil or acrylic paint. My journey to Yeats Academy MA programme has been akin to a river circumventing around large boulders. A switch from designer /artist/teacher in the spirit of lifelong learning to become a mental health nurse was seemingly a grand departure. My anatomy lecturer was quick to discern from my above average anatomical drawings: ‘ahh you are the artist…’ My lifetime collection of handbags would tell a tale. They were purchased for functionality. Could it hold a sketch book, a set of water colours and a pencil case? My grandmother was my greatest and most accommodating sitter for portraits. My children stay still in photographs only.
