The 1000 Paintings Project began after I realised I needed to reconnect with why I started painting in the first place.

Years earlier, during COVID, I had painted a very small cherry painting while taking part in an online accountability session with other artists. Afterwards, I gave myself a simple challenge: paint one hundred small works and see where it leads.

That small decision quietly changed the direction of my life and work. Travels and observation began enriching my subjects and palette, leading to the Monument Valley paintings, hundreds of experiments, and eventually ReGenesis, a large installation built from hundreds of tiny paintings.

After exhibiting ReGenesis at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, alongside prize wins, nominations, and recognition I had worked towards for years, I expected to feel fulfilled. Instead, I felt strangely lost yet again.

It felt as though I had completed a full circle and arrived back where I started.

One night, as I lay my head on the pillow, it came to me: begin again. Paint 1000 small paintings. That was it. I was in.

In many ways, this project feels like setting sail on a long voyage. There is something exciting about boarding the ship, settling in with a cup of tea, looking out of the window, and not fully knowing what lies ahead.

Sometimes we begin with familiar things only to arrive somewhere completely unexpected. A cherry painting becomes Monument Valley. Monument Valley dissolves into ReGenesis lifeforms. Small experiments become entire worlds.

In many ways, this project is a recovery of wonder. A way of falling in love with seeing ordinary things again. A permission slip to follow curiosity wherever it leads.

I buckle up, I wonder what lies ahead. And that is what excites me most.

Chocks away.