When the world told me to tone it down, I chose to turn it up
There are moments when you doubt everything.
Not because the work isn’t good enough —
but because you’ve changed,
and you’re not sure if your art has kept up.
That’s where I was when I joined Spring Academy — an intensive mentorship led by Edward Povey, one of Britain’s most uncompromising figurative painters.
I had been questioning the core of my work.
The female form — strong, sensual, unfiltered — had always been central to my visual language.
But I found myself asking:
Does this still fit who I am now?
Can I keep painting this truth — even as others avoid it, censor it, fear it?
I wasn’t looking for praise.
I was looking for clarity.
And at the Spring Academy, I found it — though not in the way I expected.
No techniques. No tricks. Just truth.
Over five intense days, twelve artists gathered in a studio without distractions.
No phones. No shortcuts.
Just brutally honest conversations about the why behind our work.
Edward didn’t teach us how to paint more beautifully.
He challenged us to see more truthfully.
To question everything.
To notice where we were polishing, pleasing, hiding.
In that mirror, I saw that my language hasn’t changed —
but my vocabulary has grown.
I no longer feel the need to explain or defend my work.
What I seek now is depth, not justification.
This experience didn’t give me a new style.
It gave me something more dangerous:
conviction.
I realized that the sensual, unapologetic imagery I paint isn’t about provocation.
It’s about freedom —
the freedom to exist fully, especially as a woman,
without filters, without shame.
The world doesn’t need more art that flatters.
It needs more art that dares.
If you’ve ever wondered whether your work still fits who you’re becoming —
If you’ve ever felt pressure to tone it down to be more acceptable —
I can only say this:
Don’t dilute.
Deepen.
And if you’re lucky enough to work with someone like Edward Povey,
be ready to be confronted.
Not with answers —
but with the kind of questions that bring you home to yourself
