Where do you think that your love for art crosses over to your love of clothes?

I think they overlap on many levels. I think it all started when I did a still life project, looking into the dark corners of my mum and dad’s, and nain and taid’s houses and looking at how people arrange stuff in their homes. It then inspired me to look at how I arrange my stuff in my little flat. And in my flat shoes, handbags and clothes was would I could see most of.

Why did you decide to create a series of work based on shoes?

I was lucky enough to be offered a job as a resident artist at Conwy county’s museums. I spent some time working at the Sir Henry Jones Museum in Llangernyw, and Henry Jones’s father was a cobbler. I asked the people and schoolchildren of Llangernyw to bring me pairs of shoes. I must have had about 60 pairs in the end, so I started to sketch pictures of them.

Apart from handbags and shoes, what other themes regularly appear in your work?

I do a lot of figurative work, sketching people in different places. I like to draw people as they work, relax or when they’re just having a conversation.

Is there one particular material that you prefer to work with?

All kinds really. I spent a lot of time out in Sri Lanka and India. While I was in Sri Lanka I spent time with a seamstress called Sahira who worked with all kinds of old silk. It was like an insight to the real life of the people of Sri Lanka and how they earned their wage. Sahira would sew and dry herbs, she was a bit of an entrepreneur. I think that we’ve forgotten the art of using a traditional sewing machine these days.

You have so many handbags it looks like a gallery here!

I like to display things on the wall and I’ve drawn a few pictures of this wall. I have a little bag, a purse really, that’s shaped like a dog’s head, and it was my first ever purse, so it’s getting on a bit now!

This looks like it’s come from India.

I bought this dress in India, and I regret not buying a dozen of them. I think it was about 75p and I’ve worn it a lot, it would keep me cool in India. Unfortunately it has a little tear. Because most of this stuff is made of silk it’s quite fragile. But even though it has a tear I still like wearing it.

Where did this one come from?

This one comes form Sri Lanka and Sahira made it for me, it was the first one she made for me. She made it especially and it fits perfectly. It was made with an old sewing machine and she’s used a traditional stitch.

This one’s very unusual.

This one’s also from Sri Lanka, and a young girl, I think she was about eighteen had started her own business making dresses. I was lucky enough to be able to choose the material for the dress, and so I chose two different saris. I like the way the colours clash with the flashy lining of the dress.

This bag is fantastic!

This is the most eccentric bag I own, but I don’t use it that often because if I put more than a little purse and a lip-gloss in it, it gets bigger and bigger and stretches!

You own a lot of saris.

I bought this sari in Cambodia from a woman who had a stall outside a temple. The minute I saw this sari I had to buy it.

I love the idea that you keep articles of clothing for years and that you can wear them time and time again until every piece has its own story. I also like to recycle by going to charity shops. I just believe that clothes are much better when they have a history or story attached to them.