My Love of Circles

I don’t know if you know this, but… I LOVE CIRCLES!!!!!!!

The make the world go round. Literally!

I tried to deny it and move onto triangles for a bit… but they just pulled me back in and I’ve just had to embrace the fact that circles are the best shape in the world.

If you’ve been following my work for a while, then you’ll know that I always try and sneak in a pink circle into all of my murals. Now, it wasn’t a conscious decision, but someone pointed it out to me and then I realised it is true! I went back through all my murals and realised that in most of them, apart from maybe one or two, had a pink circle.

Then I went back through my Uni work and everything was based on circles! So it seems to be a common theme that I have taken with me throughout my artistic career.

There’s just something about them. Something so wholesome. So satisfying. So beautiful. They just make me happy! I’m sure some of you out there might be thinking I've lost the plot, but to be honest with you, I don’t care!!!! I seem to have made a career out of circle loving and I’m going to stick with it!

Collaging

When I start a collage it needs a circle in it, otherwise it doesn’t feel complete. I play with the scale of them and how many are in each collage, and it allows me to work out compositions and see what works and what doesn’t. It’s the main focus of my work and the returning theme in all of my work.

Designing

If I’m ever designing a mural for someone, then the first place I start is with a circle and then I know everything is going to work out. I know I’m in the right place and I know that things are going to be good. It just works! If I don’t start with one then it feels like I’ve started running a race halfway through without warming up. These are designs for imaginary murals I designed while going on walks around my area during lockdown.

Making

The best thing I ever bought is a circle puncher, which literally does what it says on the tin. It punches out circles. Perfect circles in seconds! It has saved me hours and hours of time because I used to spend an afternoon drawing and cutting circles to collage with. I also have a circle cutter that makes bigger circles but it’s a bit more faffy and I can’t be bothered as much. Otherwise, there’s a good old compass and pencil and scissors that do the job!

Printing

Circles are a big part of my clothing designs and have been a feature for my 3 collections that I brought out throughout the pandemic. I just love the way they sit together and you can see how the designs have evolved from their early stage as one large circle, to incorporating other shapes, but the circle still being the main focus.

How many times have I written the word circle so far…….

Painting

When I paint murals, I have made myself a giant compass. It’s essential a piece of wood with holes drilled into it and a screw at the end. I put pencils into the holes depending on how big I want the circle and then draw a circle outline, which I then freehand paint in, which is definitely my favourite part! It’s like magic and so satisfying when you get a perfectly painted circle at the end.

Uni Work

Throughout my time at the University of Brighton I studied 3D materials practice where I specialised in metals and plastics. My degree show project was making toys and games for kids with emotional and behavioural problems. This picture here is of a metal treelike structure where kids could put different magnetic balls on the tree so that they could talk about their feelings while playing. I also made brooches that were for kids to wear to show how they were feeling so that they wouldn’t have to communicate it verbally with their teachers.

Again, circle loving madness!!

SENsory room

I am currently in the process of creating a sensory room in a secondary school in North West London, down the road from where I grew up. It will be a space for kids to use when they need a time out or a chill-out area to take away the stresses of the world. If we have learnt anything this year, it’s how much the pandemic has affected people’s mental health, especially children. So we wanted to create a room that really made people want to spend time in it. It is still in the process of being created, as we are trying to raise money to fund it, but I have painted murals on the walls and it has already made a mahoooosive difference to the space. Kids are already using it.

The plan is to suspend lighting and coloured polystyrene balls from the ceiling to make it an even more inviting space. I chose the design of using circles as the main focus as they are calming and are so versatile. I think that because it doesn’t have hard edges it gives off a warmness to it.

So children, what have we learnt today?? I am mad. Mad for circles!!!!

It’s a strange one, but one that has allowed me to make the things I want to make and be creative and design things that I love!

If you think about it, are there any shapes that you’re always drawn to? Things that you always use when you’re doodling and creating? You might start to notice a little pattern occurring…..