My work as a professional visual artist is hugely rewarding – though, of course, challenges of all kinds are intertwined with my work/life balance. Like everyone else, I share the common array of worries; providing for my family, paying bills, staying healthy… we all have our own particular wheeling currents to navigate in our lives.

Perhaps surprisingly, drawing is also something I do to escape from everyday pressures – to leave behind those habits and instincts of our over-active minds to self-assess and make critical comparisons.

Being uni-ball’s brand ambassador is hugely exciting and rewarding for me. Having enjoyed an extensive career centered on the power of words and art I’m a huge advocate for using these tools, which we all have at our disposal, for the benefit of de-stressing.

When it comes top creative writing and doodling, there is no such thing as perfection, just the practice of doing is often enough to improve our mood and bring us into the moment, away from negative thinking.

As an artist in residence in schools or settings where children and young people are learning, I use creativity as a means of communication, curiosity and meditation, creating balance and flow in young peoples. My interests lie in researching interactive blended learning, which is essentially finding ways to celebrate experiences of learning that previously conventional curricular did not acknowledge.

I’m an avid campaigner for creative thinking in education with a focus on young people who struggle in mainstream education.  I regularly sit on government advisory bodies and in parliament informing educators, minister and social workers.