The creative process can be looked at as a cycle with a beginning, middle and end. Yet, with a beginning there is always an end and with each end there is always a beginning! Therefore, there are cycles within cycles, for all eternity it seems!

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Pregnancy - a new life beginning, yet the death of an old way of being for the woman carrying the child. And with the death of being a carefree woman comes the birth of new wonders as pregnancy progresses and baby comes in to the world. And within the 9 month process, so many births and deaths of changing body shape, changes in relationships, expectations, losses, wants and dreams. The list must be endless. Baby, mum, dad, wider family, friends, work... what a ripple effect. So is there, ultimately, such a thing as death I wonder.

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This painting is based on the 'flower of life' and one of the very first I did: a 6 petalled flower said to be the cause and effect throughout all existence. The AUM symbol is at its core, for me depicting the vibratory beginning, 'the big bang', from which we have evolved. Cycles (or circles) within cycles, within cycles, within cycles creates the 6 petalled flower, each and everyone connected to each other for all eternity. For we exist within this unseen loving force.

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I see AUM (OM) coming from eastern philosophy to be meaning the same as the words from the Bible 'In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God'. John 1 KJV of the Bible

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In Yoga the word talked of is AUM, said to be the vibrational sound through all of life.

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Vibration - sound - pulsing through you, me and all of existence. ..wow.

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On a human, physical level the creative process is seen in art, music, dance, literature, sport, technology and the like. But it is a process repeated, ad-infinitum, within every moment of our lives!

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A thought, an idea, leads to getting the paints out, which leads to painting a picture, which leads to completion. Completion may end at any stage of the process, for example, an idea that doesn't go anywhere, or a self-limiting belief such as 'I can't paint' quickly shuts down any creative pursuit!

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Some examples of cycles...

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- inhale and exhale

- wake up, days activities, go to sleep

- 'I'm hungry', prepare food, eat it

- AUM (A is the beginning, U is the middle, M is the end

- 'I'm bored', 'what shall I do?', watch TV!

- going to work, working, leaving work

-birth, life, death

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I didn't study art at school or college, and I hardly ever drew. In fact I thought 'I can't paint, I can't draw'. And so I didn't until a few years ago.

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Then a new cycle began, exploring who I am through the medium of painting. Initially a piece of blank paper would fill me with dread! A heaviness would descend, accompanied by a sudden need to do absolutely anything other than sit and slop paint on paper! A sudden need to make yet another cuppa, to eat chocolate, to go to the loo for the umpteenth time, to put on the washing, go see a friend. All cycles within cycles of learnt beliefs and habits! All abruptly ending a cycle of possibility with old behavioural patterns trying to sabotage new possibility.

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Basically my mind played havoc with me, but each and every time I became aware of these cycles I saw opportunity - to continue an old cycle or to be with my discomfort and the blocked energies yearning to be felt, loved and set free. Each time I have managed this an old cycle of 'I can't, it's rubbish' has ended and a new and improved cycle begun! Painting is quite literally liberating and I strongly feel it is for everyone.

Art can be kept on a surface, matter of fact, type level, or it can be seen as a creative process - a mirror into one's inner life, a letting go and a realising of the full potential of creation you truly are...freedom.

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In the spiritual world, an analogy often used, is that our lives are playing out as if on a movie screen and that we are no more than light, shadow and mind projections, like a film projected on to a large blank screen! When the film is switched off, when all our minds drama stop playing out, the movie screen is still there...God, oneness.

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A blank canvas can be likened to a movie screen. The creative process is what goes on inside and outside yourself during the painting process and has an end. Much like life. What picture, what life do you want to create?