In the aftermath of losing my second child to cot death in 2006 I had a compulsion to create freely expressive paintings as a means of channelling my grief (Loss series ). A friend pointed out that my baby was in the top corner looking down on us and to my surprise, he was right. This was the start of me working automatically.

Dylan's loss was unexplained. I sought answers through a medium and began to train in her circle, where I was encouraged to create drawings based on guests to our sittings (Auragraph series). My hand moved intuitively, knowing what colour pastel to use and the mark to make. Afterwards, I would explain the drawing to them, relaying the rich detail it contained about them and their life.

Excited by discovering this ability, I sought to bring it in to my painting practice by making what I call Auto Trance Portraits. These paintings encapsulate an individual’s life, inspired by a photograph, a sample of their handwriting, by a recording of their voice or purely by concentrating on the person. The Manifestation series is also made automatically but is not based on specific people.