Transcript of the audio resource
The painting in front of you is made using acrylic paint and oil pens on a wooden plaque, measuring 30cm wide, 22.5cm high and 1.5cm deep. The edges of the plaque are bevelled and painted black.
The painting is abstract, made up of many colourful layers, and across the middle is a band of white with cursive black letters spelling out the phrase “Trust your gut instinct”.
The main colours in this painting are a bright, happy, sunshine yellow and varying shades of blue. The painting looks busy, but fun, with lots of movement, shapes and colours all mixed in together. The colours are bright and bold, something you may associate with summer time or children’s TV perhaps. The whole background is yellow. There are loops of black and grey swooshing across the plaque, as if the painting is of a rollercoaster. There are circles of grey, blue, shining silver and orange as well as vibrant marks of neon pink and blue bursting across the artwork.
The white banner featuring the lettering is crisp and clean in contrast, allowing the words to really stand out.
Keep listening to hear more about the painting in front of you.
This painting was made with Lee. Her favourite place is Clwb Y Bont and her words of wisdom are: "Trust your gut instinct".
Lee: "I've only ever been there once but it became the start of my journey. If I hadn't have gone there that one night, I wouldn't be where I am today. It was the start of my journey and finding Women's Aid and getting to where I am today."
Lee shared a roller coaster of a story with me, filled with abusive partners and personal realisations. She met a man at Clwb Y Bont one day who made her realise she needed to take control of her life and address her past traumas. She shared stories of friendship, healing, and realising that she is worthy of kindness and love.
Her favourite colour was always black, but recently she’s been drawn to a sunshine yellow, so I included both in the background of this artwork.
I created a colour language to guide myself with my paintings - attributing meaning to certain colours. Here the greens represent Lee's growth, grey shows the balance she’s now found and blue stands for the confidence she has developed.
This painting is full of excitement because of the joy I felt listening to how Lee has changed over the years. I added circles to represent how she reflected inward and worked on herself, lines of colour bursting across the plaque to show how she’s moving forwards at great speed. I used big bold marks to show how Lee is taking big bold steps in her life.
Across the centre of the piece, the words “Trust your gut instinct” tell all who see it to once again listen to the wisdom within their own bodies.
Lee reminded me during our session that butterflies and red flags can feel the same, but we have to learn to tell the difference.