Fly

This is one of my favourite paintings, having only been painted in 2025. I developed the idea after my retreat in 2024. It was there that the word ‘fly’ became significant to me. By the end of the retreat I felt encouraged to break free from the pressures and expectations I put on myself, and to fly. There was a particular moment on the retreat when I was at the centre of the labyrinth. As the word ‘fly’ came to me, I looked up and saw a bird fly from one tree to another, and so the word (and the image) stuck. Over time it has became another reminder to me that I can be myself, not who I think I should be. 

When it came to creating the painting, I experimented with different positions of birds in flight. To begin with I included a broken chain in the picture, as if the bird had just broken free, but after a while decided that it wasn’t necessary and cluttered the painting. The idea of the sunset colours for the sky came from another piece I created at the local art group I lead (which also featured a bird). This led me to the decision to use a silhouette of a bird, providing a nice contrast with a bright background.

The painting hangs on my wall, a constant reminder to me to FLY! But you can have your own postcard version as I included it in the Food for the Soul Postcard pack, which you can buy here.