Sally Poulson

In August 2014, I slipped on a pen whilst plugging in my printer and broke my arm , an injury that left me with almost no grip in my right hand. The physiotherapist advised me to squeeze a stress ball, but that was immensely boring. And then a friend, observing that I’d always been ‘a bit arty’, suggested that I try drawing something… and I discovered I could do something incredible.

When I was a small child, I remember I loved drawing and painting, but I was persuaded that there was no money to be made in this field and to pursue a ‘proper’ career instead. So I abandoned art in my teens and took up languages instead. Several languages, degrees (including a PhD), and careers later, and already in my fifties, I found myself looking for something else to do. Whilst I’d done a little bit of cartoony/illustrative/digital stuff over the years, fine art was pretty much alien territory for me.