About Michaela

I live in beautiful Pembrokeshire, West Wales, and I graduated from Norwich School of Art and Design in 1997 with a BA Hons in Fine Art Painting. After a long period carving out life experiences; travelling and living abroad, having children, I applied for the MA in Fine Art at Aberystwyth University in 2013.  I completed the MA in 2016 and I graduated in July 2017.

Taking this step back into my creativity allowed me to discover a new visual language, and took me into an exploration of my own psyche.

My work is concerned with motifs which represent a symbolic metaphor to me personally, and the process of painting. The more I allow the painting process its own autonomy the more I hear what the painting is telling me. Painting has become about trusting the creative process and allowing the painting to emerge organically.

The motifs I use range from the forest, the fox, the boat, the Lookout building (near Strumble Head lighthouse), and most recently St Non’s chapel near St Davids in Pembrokeshire.

St Non’s Chapel has been the focus point to my work since starting my residency at Oriel y Parc in September 2019.  Sketching the chapel, and surrounding landscape, whilst also researching the story of St Non has informed the paintings that have emerged during and subsequent to the residency. Painted with the same arbitrary and gestural technique as all of my work, aspects of the story’s narrative have become the motifs within these paintings, particularly the birth of St David and the rape of St Non.
Most of my research has been sourced from Rhygyvarch’s Life of St David (translated by Wade Evans in 1923), although other avenues have also been explored, some of my title choices are direct quotes from this work.

From July 1st 2022 I will be having a solo show at Oriel Joanna Field Gallery, Torch Theatre, Milford Haven. The work will be up until 27th July. It will be open from 10am to 6pm.

This exhibition will feature post pandemic and pre pandemic work.