I study art weekly online with professional Dutch artist Renate Van Nijen, based in Spain. I’m a member of Bricket Wood Art Club, Herts. I work in acrylics, wax and water colours. My work is Fauvist, colourful, quirky, dramatic, often linked to Arab or Mid-Eastern themes as a result of my mixed-race heritage and life-experience. Suppression of women’s rights infuriates me. I find Chagall, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Titouan Lamazou particularly inspiring. I’m an author, playwright, lyricist, guitarist, event designer and director at www.kitandcaboodle.co.uk – I’m also a popular humorous public speaker for Women’s Institute, U3A, Rotary, Probus and other community groups across Herts. I encourage any artists in my audiences to join the HVAF to find fellowship and information from fellow artists. One of my talks is called “An Artfull Life” and it tackles art-related issues and stories around re-discovering making art in later life, the fascinating history of paint and dye manufacturing, the forgotten role of many female artists over the ages – and the problems that artists, particularly women, face today.

I intersperse my talks with art-related tunes on my guitar to keep the audience awake – Vincent is a favourite, but I also enjoy singing about Lowrie’s Matchstalk Men, and naturally, the Mona Lisa.