The intersection of vulnerability and artistic practice

Not often I make a piece that is just for me. This work emerged slowly from my "To Be Held by the Garden" series - heat-formed acrylic that became both torment and refuge during the making process.

As artists, we typically create with the viewer connection in mind - building that bridge between our experience and theirs. But occasionally, a piece demands something different. It asks us to surrender to the making itself, to wrestle with the material and memory without considering the audience.

The curves in this piece are deep, almost exaggerated. I found myself becoming lost in the process, engaging with the garden's memory embedded in the acrylic. The heat-forming technique mirrors the meditative dialogue I seek in my environmental work - a physical wrestling with experience that transforms both material and maker.

Now it hangs in my studio, serving as an anchor point for the rest of the series. Sometimes the most personal work becomes the foundation for everything that follows.

What role does personal, non-audience-focused work play in your creative practice?