A quiet, immersive reflection on Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years at the Royal Scottish Academy, exploring atmosphere, scale and the lingering energy of work shaped by land, labour and time. From dimly lit gravestones to charged sculptural forms, this exhibition demanded slowness, attention and presence.

In this reflective piece, I explore the question of where ideas come from, and how moments of quiet, especially in the early morning, help create space for creativity to flow. As life grows busier and noisier, I’m learning to protect that slower time and stay open to inspiration, much like tuning into the right frequency.

A reflection on a new ink painting inspired by a walk up Creag Bheag with my mum, focusing on the solitary silver birch near the summit and the quiet energy of the landscape. I explore mark making, texture and the emotional pull of place while trying to reconnect with my flow after the research paper.

Reflecting on Linder: Danger Came Smiling at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, I explore how Linder’s use of plant motifs, feminist history, and digital self-reclamation reveal new layers of identity, nature, and belonging in art.

Visiting The Garden at Stills was a welcome pause from the heat and noise of the festival crowds, and the photographs immediately drew me in with their saturated, nostalgic quality. Yet I found myself leaving with more questions than answers about how the garden had been created and how these moments were captured. Spotting familiar plants, like the lupins I have grown from seed and that my mum planted in swathes at our house in Carrbridge, pulled me into my own memories and ideas of belonging.

In this article, I reflect on Sue Black’s Written in Bone and its parallels with my own practice. From Harris lines to tree rings, the book highlights how both bodies and landscapes bear silent records of memory, disruption and belonging.

A personal response to The Lost Girls of Autism by Gina Rippon, reflecting on masking, late recognition, mental health, and how these experiences shape my art and research into belonging, identity, and memory.

A reflection on my first one-to-one with my research supervisor, the freedom to explore my ideas, and trying to keep momentum going with writing and art over summer.

In this blog post, I reflect on Belonging by Amanda Thomson and its deep exploration of memory, place, and identity. Through my personal connection to the themes of the book, I explore how raw landscapes strip away labels, offering space for deeper self-discovery and emotional resonance that informs my artistic practice.

Discover a rare glimpse into art history through my visit to Dürer to Van Dyck: Drawings From Chatsworth House exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, housed within the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh. Featuring pieces by Dürer, Van Dyck, Rubens, and Rembrandt, this captivating display not only unveiled historical techniques but also inspired me to explore new creative approaches in my own work.

These 1-2-1 tutorials always feel like a valuable pause - moments to recalibrate and refocus my direction of study. This second session reaffirmed that I’m on the right track, while also opening up new avenues for experimentation. We explored the role of negative space in my work, the idea of balance in Chinese Brush Painting, and how translation - of memory, place, and emotional resonance - continues to shape my practice. I left the tutorial with a renewed sense of confidence and excitement, eager to push my work further, both in scale and concept.

In my recent exploration of place attachment, a conversation with a friend introduced me to the Welsh word "hiraeth," which expresses a deep longing for home. This led me to discover its Scottish counterpart, "Cianalas," particularly poignant among the Islanders of the Outer Hebrides. This term encapsulates the emotional connections we form with places, shaped by personal histories and collective memories. As I delve into Cianalas, I aim to weave together the themes of place attachment and memory in my artwork, employing techniques such as layering and shadow to evoke the nuanced emotions tied to these significant locations. My practice will reflect how memories, much like shadows, can shift and change over time, creating a tapestry of experiences that shape our identities and sense of belonging.

As I continue to evolve in my artistic journey, I’ve started to notice patterns in the places I choose to paint. They are rarely random, often evoking a deep emotional connection for me — whether tied to a personal memory or simply a sense of belonging that I can’t quite put into words. This realisation has led me to start exploring different theories, like place attachment and genius loci, as tools to better understand my work and, potentially, to guide where I go next.