I did. It was 2001. I was burnt out and sick of the BS in my personal and professional life and trying to find a way out. Or ahead. I wanted to find a way of working that would let me do what I loved and was good at and in a way that filled me up instead of leaving me depleted. 

So I asked myself the classic un-sticker question: 'If I were on my death bed and looking back at my life, what would I most regret not having done?'

The answer was as immediate and clear as it was surprising.

'Art. Visual art.'

Given I considered myself a dyed-in-the-wool writer and had pretty much failed my art prac in my higher school certificate, this came as somewhat of a surprise. But the clarity and resonance of the message were undeniable, so art it was. Cue two decades of endless experimentation across myriad mediums — mosaic, clay, drawing, printmaking, painting, fabric, clothes, collage, digital and more. I'd start to master one and leap immediately into another, always assuming I'd pick it up instantly, inevitably finding myself frustrated and back at square one instead. It was bloody hard work. it was heaps of fun. And the payback has been astounding.

It is at the heart of the creative mindset that powers my work in strategy, solving wicked problems, change, and design thinking. In fact I couldn't believe how much it helped me 'level up' in those areas. It helped me redesign my life when my marriage tanked and I found myself having to create a business from scratch as a newly single mum. It helped me discover what lit me up, and to show up in a way that was infinitely more fluid, playful and intuitive. In other words, it helped my find my way home.

Our need for art is primal, as is our need for beauty, for play, for connection and for self-expression. We don’t make art just because we can. We make art because we have to. We always have. Which is why it’s such a powerful beacon for finding home.

Home is where the heart is. And the heart is where the art is. It’s even in the word…

This book is a record of that. A limited edition work of art about works of art — what I've made, how I made them and what they taught me. An artobiography, as it were. (Gotta love a good, neological pun.) 252 pages saturated with my favourite drawings, paintings, prints and collages, short stories, poetry and essays from the last few decades.