Sheila Whittam
‘Playing has taken me back to basics; starting at the very beginning, letting go of some of the prescribed rules, yielding and letting the work embody the artist’s visual language. It is a joy not to press for the outcome, but to let it just arrive at the right place. My recent body of work seems to tell of a process about being on a journey and not necessarily arriving at a destination. Shadows of my previous drawing practice are still present, especially the works with layers palimpsest under layers, which quietly reveal a history of the working process. I have used joyous colours, oil paints, cold wax medium, assemblages, collage, monotype and drawing. These works are less structured – there is freedom to breathe. They are cathartic for me; a kind of revolving experience, drawing from within, the hidden treasures that exist in the sanctum of the artist’s inner life’. Sheila Whittam, artist.