Lincoln, UK

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hello. 

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i'm ellen cross - quaker, painter, drawer

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When I was 18 I first began to lose touch with reality when very depressed. I was a sensitive child and things weren’t always easy, and in adulthood I’ve had several bouts of mental illness, each different. I am working with psychological and psychiatric practitioners and trying to help myself improve my situation, but sometimes I still get very hopeless, I don’t care for myself and become paranoid. I love making art, it makes me very happy and I think everyone with emotional difficulties should be encouraged to create something, no matter whether it conforms to what other people regard as ‘good’. It shows you have an imagination and that means you have hope of seeing things differently, something that can be very difficult when in emotional distress.

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the painting and drawing come from nowhere.  100% unpremeditated.  i pick up my materials and go for it!  premeditated, inorganic work doesn't work for me.  it's representative of my mental state, which can be disordered.  but, it serves as a mirror.

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i don't want to create reality.

 

i also know very little about art, and that's fine.  i don't want to make for the sake of making - i want to make for the sake of me.

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ellen

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xx

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