Michelle Monaghan As a child growing up in Scotland, I always had a strong affinity for drawing. I particularly enjoyed pencil drawing people & animals and used to give them away to friends who would ask for them. I'd always planned to take art as a subject at school, however, various male family members discouraged me from doing so, believing that I must choose more 'academic subjects'. This resulted in the pursuit of science at school followed quickly by University, where I studied Toxicology. During the final years of the Toxicology course, it became apparent that science, although extremely interesting, did not really ignite my soul; nevertheless, I functioned / performed; passed all the exams, completed the course and gained an Honours Degree. In the years that followed, I focused on looking after those closest to me and that was the way that it remained until early 2019. After a duration of 18 years, I once again picked up a pencil and decided to draw and it's slowly evolved into beginning to paint. It's an extremely steep learning curve but one which is helping to heal previous traumas and helping me to once again, find happiness. I have so many ideas of future paintings I'd like to complete, but due to 'day-job' commitments at this point in time, so very little time to paint...it's just a matter of squeezing time in whenever I can.