Sometimes, you just need to get hands on, to let your body remember why you love something. With Hands in the Dirt, I painted entirely with my fingers, and this allowed me to return to a feeling I’ve been missing — an instinctive, joyful, movement-based way of painting. 

I was inspired by the wild beauty of London’s flowers at the moment, and the work of Geoff Uglow, whose rose paintings remind me to feel more than plan. After a long stretch of business-focused work, I let myself paint freely again, and this piece poured out like a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding.

I didn’t overthink the colours—just knew I wanted pinks and greens, and trusted my sense of what works. There’s energy in the strokes, life in the layers, and my deep love of nature and colour woven through it all. For me, this painting is pure feeling—and I hope you can sense that when you see it. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t need to be perfect or polished to be powerful; it just needs to be alive.