Throughout May I decided to approach my Year of Expression a little differently to how I'd originally planned. (You can read an introductory blog post here)

As I struggled to articulate - and therefore express - what I was feeling, I began four separate canvases each representing a different facet of my emotional life: work, relationships, mind and body. The idea was to add to the paintings with a new layer as I felt appropriate, tracking my thoughts and feelings with colour, collage, line and text.

Due to some wonderful painting commissions, I wasn't able to dedicate as much time as I'd planned to the project. However, I did discover something exciting through working on these canvases when I could.

The expressions of emotion may not have been beautiful in their own right, but they have become meaningful backgrounds to more structured paintings.

I learnt that I love the contrasts created between the melancholy, muted tones I chose one day and the brighter, confident hues of another, the delicate line of a calmer state and the erratic gesture of a difficult day.

The works are beginning to capture the tapestry of emotion I feel. In particular, I love the idea that each canvas has a history; a secret story.

The Mind canvas illustrates it perfectly: a five story building, a lot going on inside behind the facade. Yet the activity inside is ordered and managed; the outside, bathed in sunshine

Stage 1: A wonderful treasure-trove or an overwhelming, unfathomable maze?

Stage 2: Frustration

Stage 3: Thoughts of order and disorder, fear and naive obliviousness.

I'm still working on my other canvases representing Work, Relationships and body. I'll hopefully have an update shortly.

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I was an art student who became a screenwriter. Twenty years later, I abandon the page and return to the canvas as I attempt to tell stories through pictures.

My Mind in Pictures