Sheila’s work is largely concerned with a sense of movement and moving on. This comes from a fascination that she has always had with roaming and nomadic lifestyles, a central inspiration which began when she was very small and lived on a route often used by travellers who walked through the country looking for work. She was particularly fond of those who made small drawings that they would sell or exchange for food as they moved along.  After finishing university she chose to travel herself and spent almost ten years roaming and earning her living in any way she could. Her total possessions in the world fitted into a rucksack and despite painting and drawing during much of this time she threw or gave almost everything away.

Her current lifestyle is more stationary but her paintings continue to reflect a sense of largely unencumbered movement, either in the subject matter or in the application of the paint. Some of her work is a direct exploration of being a ‘guest’ in a new environment, not quite being at home there and yet already a part of it simply by being there in that place and time. Other paintings explore the sensations of moving around - the visual chaos and bombardment of the senses that can accompany regular travel and the solid feel of history shared with other travellers past, present and future.

What intrigues her particularly is the way that we can make sense of the chaos of information that we perceive. Somehow we can create or find stillness and meaning within it all. Walking slowly through the woods can be as visually rich and overwhelming as zipping along on a train through unknown landscapes yet both can be deeply peaceful and relaxing. In her paintings Sheila explores the relationship between the visual and psychological chaos of movement and the stillness within it.