I’m sure if you broke me in half like a seaside stick of rock it would say Art all the way through me. I think , read, look at, curate and most importantly make art pretty much all of the time. My journey as an artist began on the return to school aged six after the death of my mother where a teacher let me use her on desk pencil sharpener .Anyone who went to school in the seventies or eighties will get what a big deal this was.

From that moment creating became both a comfort and companion. I would sit drawing at my Nans table - my namesake Winnifred May, or Winniemay - and loose myself. I have never felt alone with art.

Through my art I explore human stories, predominantly through portraiture. Having only a few photographs of my mother and Nan, I have always been drawn to discarded and forgotten black and white photographs and other objects .

Have you ever held a photograph that evokes such a strong feeling of someone, someone you you loved, someone you never met, or someone who feels strangely familiar?That sense of connection sits at the heart of my work.

I think of my paintings as visual love letters to the real, imagined and hoped for connections between us. Because we recognise pieces of ourselves in each others stories.

Alongside portrait painting, my practice also expands in to street art and interior decorative chinoiserie inspired murals that are designed to create environments that feel both timeless and deeply personal.

I also teach painting workshops a- luxury chinoiserie workshops- community art and artist to artist mentoring.

Alongside my studio practice, I am currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Fine Art.

Whether working on a portrait, a mural, a class, or my research, the thread remains the same: art as a way of connecting people memories and places.