The title ‘Momentum’ is so very appropriate. I had one idea in my mind about the concept of this piece, but ended up experiencing and learning something completely different!

The more I pursue this art career, the more I feel that making art is such an apt metaphor for the journey of life itself. You start with a blank canvas and step up to the canvas over and again, trying to take the artwork in a direction that makes you happy. Often you end up somewhere completely different than you expected!

This is the largest piece I have worked on before (other than the collaborative pieces). The canvas was just over 2m square. I have been wanting to work large for a really long time, and the experience was absolutely fantastic. It’s going to be hard to go back to smaller work after this.

Being an artist in public was an interesting experience. I felt quite anxious about having my messy work materials in a gallery space. I was worried that people would think it was a workspace and be discouraged from coming to the exhibition.

Another tricky thing about working so publicly was getting interrupted. Usually, when I’m in the state of flow, I like to focus completely on what I’m doing. It was difficult to have my flow interrupted by people coming to talk to me. But, to be fair, even in a closed studio, interruptions still happen- that’s just life.

You know what they say about opinions- everybody has them! This was a really fast way to invite all sorts of opinions about what I was doing; people didn’t want me to paint over certain parts, or use certain colours. It’s been a really good exercise in trusting my own inner voice to lead me and not get too worried about what everyone else thinks.

At times I found it difficult to manage my own momentum for the work. Some days I felt like completely giving up! In my studio I usually have several pieces on the go, whereas this time I only had one piece, so I had to keep going without being able to put it aside and work on something else for a while.

I’m really glad that I managed to bring the painting to a conclusion on the last day of the show. I was a bit worried that I would still be in the messy middle, which would be a difficult way to end things- and that’s quite a lot of pressure. On the other hand, perhaps having a set timeframe did help me focus and get through the difficult middle part and persevere to the end.

In conclusion, I am really happy with how this project went. It’s been a huge learning experience! Would I do a painting in progress during an exhibition again? I’m not sure! But never say never. If the momentum is there… ;)