Finding Peace is from a series of works, Whispering Reflections completed earlier in the year and exhibited at Snape Maltings. (The same week the fabulous Singh Twins were revealing their own extraordinary exhibition).

Many of the originals have been sold including one of the three large paintings titled, Finding Balance. I am grateful for the connections between viewer and artwork. It can feel like a sacred space.

This series grew organically in response to long term health issues; to find an energy baseline from which I could focus and aim to physically create a new series of works. Authentic work, containing the essence of me that spoke of meditative practice and awareness of self healing.

I don’t want to go on about health but without it …well you know.

We don’t have to be totally done for…

if we can just find a way to be ourselves in our new situation. Of course it’s not easy and in this instance, turned out to be an enormous challenge.

Lying in bed typing into my phone a little at a time, I’m reflecting on the small windows of creative opportunity. When I say opportunity I mean the moments in between. The moments in between rest and recovery from relatively quiet daily living.

Living without usual and expected energy (the sort I used to take for granted would be there ready) for me is comparable to cars running on fumes while the petrol pumps are waiting to be filled. There is no easy fix.

Daily gratitude, deep breaths, meditation and finding joy in the small things. This is where my personal creativity begins and it grows in my thoughts until I’m able to get started. I regularly put on my apron…I sit at my space ready.

The layers in these paintings build up gradually; thin glazing layers as though pulling in the light, the unpredictability of how the light will react on canvas.

See the texture, the history in the building of this piece; brushstrokes, palette knives, fabric, hands…until I got to a point of calming stillness within.

Finding Peace by Susan Whatling is available at www.etsy.com/shop/WildThymeStudio.

25% discount applied at checkout for purchases over £100 until 8th September 2025.

Enjoy 🌺

Susan