When I was little, I wanted to be a fashion designer. I mean, you can see how I rocked this look in the 70s.

At some point in art school I was told that I didn't have the right personality to survive the fashion industry and I was steered in another direction. Although my tutor may have been right, it seems since then, I've been at war with my personality; testing out different avenues of expression; self doubt a constant companion.

In 2014, the weight of self doubt became crippling and I was forced to quit my “dream job” as a screenwriter. With my identity, self-esteem and future in flux, I realised I had nothing more to lose; I could go back to basics and reboot. I took long walks, the same route everyday, seeing the same things. I got the urge to draw stuff again; to truly feel and appreciate the world that I'd merely brushed up against before.

Architecture became my subject of choice. There is something reassuring about a building that particularly attracts me.  It's still. It can be unchanging. It has observed the passing of time.

Through my continuous-line doodles I’m constantly reminded of my connection to the stories around me and the human marks made in this moment of time. Taking the themes of identity and connection further in my mixed media paintings, I seek to express how I experience the world through anxiety and depression.

Tracey Flynn graduated from DeMontfort University Leicester in 1993 with BA (hons) in Surface Decoration. After working in radio production and screenwriting for several years, she has now returned to her first love of painting. She specialises in semi-abstract, mixed media expressionism. She won Pan MacMillan's Great Britain in Colour competition in 2017 with her illustrations of her favourite buildings.

She mainly works on limited edition prints and private commissions.