For me, Eloise is bittersweet. She is part of a set that was created for a group show in late Spring 2024. She’s 10 X 20″, which is a terrific size painting that is easy to fit into a space. I created this painting, delivered her to the show, and never saw her again. After the group show, there was a huge sense of pride when The Fraser Gallery asked to keep her for display, and hopefully sale, through the gallery shop. That was a big deal for me, the new painter, coming out of her first show. I never saw Eloise on display in the gallery shop, although I did see her sister Elsbeth on display each time I visited the gallery. Then Eloise sold. A hugely exciting moment for me, but then I realized that I couldn’t find a photo of her for my records. Goodness woman, photograph all your work in the studio! Before it goes somewhere.

I know, this is supposed to be me talking about the creation of Eloise. So as I said, Eloise was created for my first show. I had no preconceived idea what she would look like. Beyond a palette of pre-mixed colours and the song A Million Dreams, I went into the creation of Eloise with a canvas randomly covered in transparent stains and my imagination. That’s the norm for me now, but at this point in time I was just working into my technique of staining the surface and then building the layers upon this, allowing my intuition to take charge. I had this strategy of using a study, on canvas paper, while I worked on a stretched canvas. I would practice a flower on the study, assessing its position and colour, and then tackle it on the surface of Eloise. The result being that I finished a study in addition to a set of paintings.

Each morning when I started painting I had a routine of donning an apron, turning my painting light on, putting in my earbuds and selecting A Million Dreams to play on Spotify. This would trigger my creativity and as the playlist continued Eloise took shape – a bouquet gradually appeared.