Description

I made this menopause art because I was trying to express how I feel experiencing a hot flush. You know like being present, observing it and then responding to it in a painting. That red hot scribble of endurance.

The menopause is a really interesting time for a woman’s body and my art is naturally reflecting this change that has started occurring in me now. The closest thing I can describe, to the feeling of a hot flush, is the experience of suddenly waking up in a hot tent at a festival, with the midday sun blazing down. As with a hot flush you just want to rip open the zipper and let some air in as fast as possible. The heat starts in the chest and quickly rises into the face.

Then you get cold and have to put all your clothes back on. That’s why I painted the cool blue next to the hot red and orange scribbles on her face.

I celebrate the female body for all its life giving capabilities. It’s an adorable vessel to inhabit. I love and value everything about my femininity and what being a woman is all about – instead of the Disneyfied, airbrushed and carefully poised version that we’re usually swamped with.

I felt the urge to paint this subject big and bold because there’s nothing timid about going through the menopause – it can’t be ignored. It’s in my face, so I’ve painted it big enough to be in your face too. I’m excited and confident about this change.