DETAILS
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FAVOURITE THINGS
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*My children - even when they're being really silly. Perhaps especially when they're being silly.
*My husband, who I met when I was 18 in a really dire club on Christmas Eve. It wasn't very romantic. But he had very nice hair. *Cats. We have an old grey cat, Smokey, a tabby cat called Barry, and an Oriental Siamese known as The Big Cheese. *Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in comic book form and TV show). I. LOVE. IT. *Wuthering Heights. I was Emily Bronte in a previous life. *Any historical TV drama! From BBC's Pride and Prejudice, to Korean drama Chuno, to Chinese drama Love Like The Galaxy, to Russian The Road to Calvary. I am pretty global in what I love! *The Musee D-Orsay in Paris has the most amazing paintings by the most amazing artists in the world. I wish I could live there. *Bath, England. I love the city. *My family. Obviously. They're really supportive and I'm incredibly dependent on them all, especially my mum who, incidentally, is the reason I write. *Dance. Watching it, as I can't dance for toffee. I dance like I am toffee. Even when my daughter patiently tries teaching me ballroom dancing (which she is amazing at). I really love ballet and the tango but really all kinds of dance sparks at my imagination. *Last favourite thing is a cup of tea in the morning. Half a sugar, if you're asking. Thanks. |
Music
I have a really broad taste in music but the following are tunes that make me stop what I'm doing to listen. They physically hurt they're so brilliant. Gnossienne by Erik Satie Hurt by Johnny Cash Fall at your Feet by Crowded House Song to the Moon (Rusalka) by Dvorak Theme from Schindler's List by John Williams Anything and everything by Amy Winehouse Running up that Hill by Kate Bush Stand and Deliver by Adam Ant Cello suites by Bach Heroines and Heroes My ultimate hero has to be William Wilburforce who not only battled to abolish slavery (impressive when it was so acceptable in his day) but he also set up what would become the RSPCA. Yes, he loved animals too. What a man. Sylvia Plath. She wrote some of the most beautiful lines in the history of ever. The Perfect Day My favourite day would start with a cup of tea. I like to get up early, often 5am, and then I'd write until someone else wakes up. My favourite time of year is autumn (I love the days drawing in and all the leaves turning amber) so a walk kicking up the fallen leaves would be nice. Maybe lunch out at a pub. A trip to a matinee performance at the theatre would be great - ballet, play, I don't mind. Then come back, close the curtains and snuggle up to watch a great TV drama (often Asian drama and often starring either Liu Yuning or Jang Hyuk!), with Smokey on my lap. Some chocolate biscuits at this point would finish things off perfectly. |
FANGIRL
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FANGIRL
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MAGAZINE FEATURE
So wonderful to have my paintings adorning the beautiful walls of my friend, Charlotte Teeple-Salas, gorgeous home in the July 2021 issue of Period Living magazine!
FAVOURITE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
Pictures I painted of my cat, George, when I was eleven to fifteen, He was a great model! If you look carefully, I used to sign my name in the shape of a cat...
Bottom right, aged 11; middle bottom, aged 13; bottom left, aged 12; top left, aged 15; top right, aged 15
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George even won me a prize when I wrote a true story about him and a lost kitten who arrived in our garden one day. It was open to all primary schools in my home town. I remember I couldn't believe it when mine won!
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FAVOURITE ART
If I could be any artist, I'd be Vincent Van Gogh. I like his paintings a lot. I also love Degas' ballerinas, especially the way he positions them on the paper. And Kandinsky's abstract expressionist paintings are always a joy. Like him, I'm endlessly fascinated by synaesthesia (a mixing of the senses). I am mixed handed - a bit like being ambidextrous - but rather than swapping hands to do the same job, I use both hands for specific things. For example, I write with my right-hand, but I sketch with my left; I always use my fork in my left hand, whether I'm holding a knife or not; and I throw far with my right-hand, but accurately with my left. It can get confusing, especially as I turn keys, open bottles, with my left-hand but using a screwdriver, I use my right - which makes my brain feel like its imploding as I can't work out which way I should be turning it...
COMPETITIONS
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When I was 15, I also won a competition by the RSPCA to design a T-shirt! It was very surprising to win (apparently, they had 17,000 entries!) and was very surprising to my parents because they didn't know I'd even entered.
I remember the press photographers snapping away and feeling like my smile had fixed rigid to my face. The puppy was cute, though.
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I have an appalling memory so I tend to obsessively yet haphazardly keep things and photos in case I forget I even did them. Here's a random selection,,,
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"No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself."
Virginia Woolf
