I have always loved painting. Through out my early art and design training it was always painting that I enjoyed most. I then went on to train and become a Theatre set and costume designer. Theatre excited me as a vehicle that can combine all art forms in one space. In a world that is so involved with screens I’ve always felt that theatre is a great way to experience human contact and story telling. While working as a freelance designer in the UK and abroad I always thought I’d have time to paint during the weekends and evenings but in order to pay my rent and bills in London this was never a reality. I waited to fall out of love with theatre design so that I could paint. This never happened. How can you fall out of love with space? I decided to take a big drop in wages and lifestyle, while I had no dependents and get any kind of part time job so that I could paint again. As always when you make the right decisions doors open and my new job turned out to be one of the most interesting, challenging and lucrative part time jobs I’d ever had and I was also able to paint. Most of my paintings are based on something real; architecture or landscape and then they become abstract. I do my best painting when I listen to and follow my intuition rather than let my mind decide on an outcome.

Ruth Finn