I use notebooks as part of my on-going practise. Most artists do, it's part of our training..I fill them up over a period of time ,with drawings, small watercolours, articles and images fom newspapers and magazines,ideas for my work.The time it takes to fill them varies-sometimes weeks,sometimes months. When one finishes I start another. I received my moleskin from Kildare Co. Council Arts Service and decided I wanted to be much more deliberate with it-to use it as a visual narrative to capture a very specific period of time-two weeks -in mid-summer 2012. This was a transient time in many ways both for me personally, and also for the important people in my life-my family.

Nothing stays the same, moments are precious-these two ideas became the theme of my notebook. I was Inspired by the beautiful environment i was in (Co.Mayo) where i was visiting at the time. Sitting and drawing or painting is a very meditative experience.You really have to be centered in time and place.As i put marks on the page trying to record what i was looking at,I also felt I could think more clearly about everything else that was happening-a parting,a new begining ,a birthday, a death,, a recovery, an ending,an anniversary,a time of change.

With the drawings and paintings as a basis, I set about making each page of my notebook a collage containing elements of all these happenings-precious 'fragments'from five lives.

The fragments in each collage are made up of many bits and pieces gathered over those two weeks,including;drawings, lists, pages from a diary,pages from notes for a thesis, receipts,parts of maps,bits of creative writing,sections of letters,dried flowers picked on walks-everything meaningful and precious in their own way.

I put the collages together as individual compositions on each page-beginning with a drawing,adding some colour,tearing ,arranging and sticking pieces on, and then overlaying with gold paint to add to the 'preciousness' of what i was using.

The pages of the notebook are small so each collage is delicate ,parts of them are very personal-as i was putting them together i became more and more aware of the idea that nothing stays the same nothing lasts forever,every moment is precious. This is my way of trying to capture and keep that feeling.