Inspired by automatism and abstract expressionists past and present, this body of work explores how a visual language develops through art, and the ways feelings and emotions can be captured and communicated in colour and shape. Having always painted from instinct, this very personal study takes me on a deep exploration as to why I paint the way I do, where it comes from and what it means. My exploratory journey begins in symbolism and surrealism, and investigates how a universal language of marks develops from the artist’s subconscious. Through collage, spontaneous mark-making, automative drawing and later more expressive work in paint, I go on a very personal journey, with the lyrics to a song called ‘Open’ by Regina Spektor as my guide. As I gradually become braver, revealing more and more about my own struggles and personal experiences, the lyrics to the song help me to express through a visual language, my feeling of being trapped ‘in a room I built myself’ out of fear and obsession. I gradually begin to experience for myself the power of art to find healing and meaning about difficult life experiences. As windows of ‘self’ emerge, through contrasts of light and dark, my work explores the feeling of looking out onto a world beyond anxiety and fear, and in doing so turns distinctly abstract, three-dimensional and therapeutically healing