Welcome to Below the Surface

A painter from West Wales introduces herself, her studio, and why she writes.

Hello, and welcome.

If you’re here, something drew you. Maybe it was the work. Maybe it was something I said somewhere that sounded like a thing you’d been thinking but hadn’t found words for yet. Either way, I’m glad you’re here.

This is my Substack. I called it Below the Surface because that’s where I’m most interested in looking — beneath the visible, beneath the finished painting, beneath the version of a life that gets presented to the world. What’s actually there, beneath the surface, is what I care about.

I’m going to write here about making things. About what it actually feels like to be in the studio — the days the work opens up and the days it shuts down entirely. About the strange, energetic, sometimes inexplicable relationship between a painter and a canvas. About the spiritual dimensions of creativity that I find almost nobody talks about openly.

I'm also going to write about the life around the work. About raising three children essentially alone — including twins — from before they were born, in rural West Wales. About the decision to unschool them, to trust that life itself is the curriculum. About the years I spent finding my way back to myself, and what art had to do with that. About resilience — not the motivational-poster kind, but the quiet, unglamorous, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other kind.

I won’t write on a schedule. I’ll write when something is worth saying. What I can promise is that when I do write, it will be honest. It won’t be performed. And it will always be about something real.

If you make things, I hope this becomes somewhere you feel less alone in that. If you don’t make things but you’re drawn to creativity, spirit, and the honest examined life — you’re welcome here too.

With warmth from West Wales, Anya

P.S. If you’re an artist looking for 1-to-1 mentoring or a portfolio review, you can find out more at anyaward.org.