When people ask me what I do, I still have to pinch myself when I tell them I'm an artist. Art was my favourite subject at school, although when I left education I ended up working in the IT industry, where I eventually set up my own business.

As with a lot of people, a combination of reaching my 30s, and weathering the credit crunch led to me reassessing where I was in life, and I decided to make more time for my passions outside of work. I decided to do a Philosophy degree, and started painting again. My canvas habit soon got out of hand, and I realised I was going to have to make some space and find a way to fund my activities going forward. I decided to take the plunge and put my work up for sale online, and was lucky enough to sell my first painting within a week. To cut a long story short, I've been very fortunate in being able to give up my former career to work as an artist full-time.

I currently work from my home studio, where I split my time between painting and being head-butted by my very affectionate cat, Dora. My work tends to fall into one of three categories - abstract expressionist, broken colour, and then the more representational abstracts depicting trees, landscapes, and flowers. The majority of my original works are created in acrylics on canvas although I do some mixed media works, and have been introducing soft pastels to a number of pieces. I've recently begun drawing again, having enrolled at my local college to help develop my technical skills. I've been experimenting with a variety of mediums during this time, and it's beginning to filter through in some of my work.

People often ask me what inspires me, and it's hard to pinpoint one thing in particular. Music is one influence that comes to mind, I love listening to jazz music when I work. I find a lot of jazz really uplifting, and I think this is probably evident in a lot of my work. I would say another important aspect to my work is colour - as I've long been intrigued by the way colours can influence mood. I personally feel most inspired when I feel happy or hopeful, and I like to think that the vibrant colours in my work will help others to feel the same.