“Bathe”, Tracey Elizabeth Downing, 2009, oil on canvas

Bathe was made instinctively and includes a motif that often occurs in my imagery which is neither person not object but has elements of both. The painting reminded me of a children’s book by John Burningham titled ‘Time to get out of the bath Shirley’ that I read to my children when younger. The story illustrates Shirley’s escape into her imagination where she has more agency and visibility than in everyday life where she is met with vacant preoccupation by her parental figures. My work lies between representation and abstraction and has been described has narrative elements. I am interested in the stories that unfold in the mind of the viewer and the relationship between the image maker and viewer.

Cover images are selected from Art Therapists’ Art. For more information please see the fortnightly BAAT eBulletin.