Jack

Getting sober is tough, staying sober is harder still. I was a troubled kid and as soon as I hit twelve, I started getting stoned and drinking, it made me feel less bad about existing. I was taking everything else I could get my hands on by the time I was fifteen. The problem is, as soon as you can't be high, the depression, anxiety and dread all come back in, tenfold. Eventually my mental and physical health couldn't take it anymore and I had to stop or die. I went from being a kid to waking...

This is a series of paintings where I paint school teachers from memory, trying to get their essence in quick paintings from my cloudy mind. I then write here any memories conjured up. Mr Blair was a pleasant enough teacher. He was tall, camp and moved around in a carefree fashion. I didn’t understand much of what he said because he tended to speak in French quite a bit. He seemed like a practical man who didn’t waste his effort in a direction where he knew it wouldn’t be effective but...

80's Primary School Teacher, Acrylic on canvas, 40 by 40cm This is the ninth in my Strange and Sometimes Troubled Memories series. Sometimes little events can seemingly have a big impact on your life. This one did, and I’m not even sure if it was for better or worse. Later on in my school life I had teachers do worse things to me, like bullying me, hitting me, being generally nasty, but none of that effected me, this event did though. Even at a young age I could tell which teachers were...