Studio Diaries
Stories from behind the canvas
Studio Diaries offers a glimpse into the thoughts, experiments and moments that shape my work, from the first spark of an idea to the unexpected directions a painting can take.
These writings are not explanations, but companions to the work.
When an Image Wouldn’t Leave Me
The Cry That Remained · September 2026
A photograph of a young girl crying in a war zone stayed with me. I couldn't change what I had seen, but I could respond in the way I know, through art.
I began creating this mixed-media collage using torn newspaper, fragments of words, layers of paint, texture and marks. I didn't have a carefully planned composition. I simply started working and allowed the layers to build around her.
As I worked, her face became the quiet centre amongst all that movement.
I wasn't trying to reproduce the photograph perfectly. The painting became my response to seeing a child caught in circumstances no child should have to understand.
Sometimes I paint because I have an idea. Sometimes I paint because an image touches me so deeply that I simply need somewhere to put the feeling.
This was one of those times.
While waiting for my next flight to Jordan, I opened my sketchbook and experimented with water-soluble oil pastels for the first time. What emerged was not Petra itself, but a memory of Petra.