This image is my version of how time feels. Time has always bothered me because there were people and events I wanted to stop and I couldn’t as a child. Yet I could imagine it so easily. I wish so much that I could have rewound and undone what other people did. Learning that many cultures believe time can stretch and compress or even fold back on itself, or bring the future to the present has brought me so much joy! Especially my celtic heritage as a child, spending daydreams with faeries and goblins, trolls, dwarves, magicians, witches and talking animals of all kinds. That these can be accessed so simply by doorways between our worlds and that time is experienced so differently there. Slower and richer in courage and miracles. Turns out all my friends from other backgrounds grew up with similar daydreams just differently described sprites, tree nymphs and mermaids. Perhaps they all relate differently now that history has changed the planet so much? Well! I started writing six characters that journey in ancient Australia from different cultures and times, trying to resolve their deep questions. Then I finished illustrating them for my university major work. This print is one of many that helped me discover using ink and scrennprinting as painting, so much joy making this piece. Oodles of colour and randomly planned binding with a giant squeegee. The designs are layered and abstracted by that with a purpose. Im reaching for that childhood sensation of intense light colour and detail that exists in the other worlds, that can be free of time.

The wonderful Westwords Academy of 2022 https://www.westwords.com.au/westwords-academy/accepted me as one of the mentorees this year. Excitingly I am about to meet my mentor and continue work on the short stories I have written. I am equal parts joyful from creating them and rewriting them again. And full of trepidation, writing books is a very intensely detailed project! They also encouraged us to submit for their Varuna Writers Fellowship in September, a week of supported writing in the Blue Mountains, yay! So August will be filled with news for me. I will celebrate even if I am not accepted for the week long writers retreat. Just being able to submit something is an achievement for me!