That question feels like a big question that should have a big answer. There are lots of reasons why I create art now, but just one simple answer why I began … because it feels good. Let me explain …
I have loved art for as long as I can remember. As a child I asked for paints, pencil crayons, and colouring books every Christmas, which my Mum was happy about, having a love for art herself. Growing up I remember watching my Mum do the most amazing pencil sketches, and paint canvasses with oils. I’m sure thats probably where my interest for art and creativity began; my Mum.
As a teenager I tried to take A-Level art at high school, but I dropped out during the second year out of utter defiance after being told to only draw and paint farm landscapes for months on end. This was my first indicator that being told ‘what’ to draw, and ‘when’ to be creative, was not for me! After this I didn’t draw or paint for a very long time.
I married, had two children, and spent lots of years encouraging my small girls to play and experiment with all sorts of art materials, but never picked anything up for my own enjoyment. But then, a divorce, lots of heartbreak, and a few years later, I’d put the girls to bed and was feeling very anxious and restless in my front room. Through the unsettling feelings and thoughts, I felt an overwhelming need to just, well, scribble. So I got a sheet of the girls black sugar paper and some pastels out on the floor, and the blank paper became scribbles, then the scribbles became more considered marks, and before I could explain what had happened, I was using my fingers to smudge and blend colours on the paper, and I had some sort of green and pink and white Orchid in front of me. And that was the beginning of the art career I am so grateful to have now. A feeling. An overwhelming feeling amongst some very dark feelings, to draw. To create. I’ve been making art ever since.
Although I predominantly work in watercolours these days, I have always enjoyed working in lots of different mediums. I used only acrylics for a long while, and also used to be a big fan of pencil sketching. But watercolours won my heart with their free and wild nature. You know how they say a horse matches your personality? Well maybe that’s the case with art materials too! I’m a quietly chaotic person by nature, with a fiery wild Irish streak, and a built in need to be barefoot, among the trees, with the wind in my hair. I don’t do well with restriction, but at the same time I need something or someone to support me with gentle guidance (thank you to my wonderful other half for offering this). These traits are in parallel with the personality and behaviour of watercolours. Often referred to as one of the hardest art mediums to learn, watercolours demand the user to give up some trust and control over to them. You don’t know EXACTLY where the paint will go on the paper once it hits the water; the wet on wet technique requires you to work in partnership with it, not be the master of it. And that is the absolute beauty and magic of watercolours.
Learning the wet on wet technique and trusting the process takes some practice. When I first tried watercolour painting I had no guidance or teaching and foolishly assumed I’d be able to use them straight away because I was fairly good at other paints and art materials. Well I couldn’t ha!! Piece of humble pie for me. And I can’t tell you when it was exactly that the watercolour penny dropped for me, but I think it was when I stopped trying to control them and paint perfect looking flowers, and when I embraced the loose style instead.
I learned that water was my friend, basic shapes that I could make with the shape of my brush head was enough, and watching water disperse colour out across the paper into those simple petal and leaf shapes was mesmerising. And that’s how my ‘style’ was born. Through play and a genuine adoration for the beauty and defiance of watercolour paints.
So you see art isn’t just a finished piece that looks nice to me. It’s a feeling. It’s a therapeutic release. It’s a healing tool, a central nervous system regulator, a mood balancer, and an intrusive thought diminisher. And my greatest joy is teaching others how to reap these benefits too through watercolours.
If you’d like to learn more about loose watercolour painting, my Instagram and Facebook is full of free mini tutorials. I also run a wonderful Patreon community where I upload structured lessons once a week, and I’m hosting a loose watercolour retreat in Portugal this September (2026). Here’s the retreat link if you’d like more information on that, I’d love to see you there!
Watercolour Retreat in Portugal
Sending love to you wherever you are,
Em x
