Hi......

My name is Taryn, welcome to my space!

A bit (okay actually quite a lot), about me...

After A-Levels I spent a year doing an Art Foundation Diploma and loved the experimentation and variety.

I then undertook a Fashion Studies BA which was all wrong for me. I should have left immediately and applied for a textile or costume course, but I had met the loveliest people in the world and I was too scared to leave! Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Alternatively, I could have joined a theatre and worked my way into the costume or set design department… or run away to the circus…

A year of backpacking kicked off what has become a lifelong addiction to travel and the rest of my 20’s was spent chasing that thrill rather than focussing on my career, which lead me to the sticky situation of not having one to go back to after my first child. Queue the next decade of children and moving countries every 3-4 years and I’ve finally worked myself into a position where I can offer up my truest self on a creative plate.

I like to concentrate on multiple disciplines at the same time and so what ties these together is the season. For half of the year all paintings, textile works, and decorations are focused quite strongly on floral motifs and soft colour. The other half is more heavily influenced by pattern and a more monochrome palette.

Definitely a dreamer, I am strongly influenced by stories in books, theatre, film, and I most often paint with acrylics although I keep my sketchbook work to pen or pencil. I prefer to paint on something more textured like kraft paper or card and better yet to produce work in three dimension such as on wood or with textiles. My creative practise is continuing to evolve.

I find it difficult to answer the question of where I'm from, I spent half of my childhood in one country and the other half in another and have lived in 3 more totally new countries since then. So, I take comfort in the phrase 'home is where I lay my hat' and that will do for now.

As a family we plan to settle here in south west France and I am blissfully happy with our choice, grateful too that we have had the freedom to make it. All of that said, I am still very attached to London and like to think of it as my spiritual home. I feel most at peace living in the countryside but I need a regular dose of city life to invigorate and inspire me.

Just in case you fancied reading further ramblings here are a few more things...

I’m boringly addicted to chocolate, I try to keep it to just the very dark stuff (because then it's healthyish right?!) but I often fail miserably. I have enjoyed a dark chocolate crepe with a sprinkling of cinnamon for breakfast almost every day for the last 3 years.

I wish I was ACTUALLY Irish, because they have THE coolest accent, (closely followed by Scottish…).

I’d love my French to be coming along quicker but I am incredibly lazy and so therefore a large part of my day is spent feeling guilty.

I have spent a fair few nights sleeping out under the stars and it is the most magical thing in the world. A friend did it recently though and woke up to a slug on her face and so I’m somewhat put off until I can lose that image…

The real reason I take so long to make dolls is because even though I have a decent haberdashery collection, I love it all so much that I never want to use it. A bit like people who like to look at their bank balance, I like to open my drawers and look at the beautiful ribbons and beads and then close it back up again!

The image on the right is me age 5. Make of it what you will.