Painting and making is something that I have always done, but I have a curiosity about what it means to be human so I wanted to study it. My Oxford thesis charted the evolution of a sense of self, through the earliest evidence of art and toolmaking. Objects becoming decorative - beyond the functional - marks a key cognitive development in human evolution. I also spent time in Borneo studying orangutans, with the Iban tribe. They live alongside nature in the purest sense. Life is dictated by the nutritional and medicinal properties of the rainforest. I frequently refer back to my experiences in my work, so the two feel linked to me.

Painterly, textural, delicate and playful.

To create, to make something that wasn't there before. Transforming a blank space with a mural - with just a few colours, I can mix up a thousand different shades and create a new world for someone to live in - I love that.

It has taught me to look, to notice patterns - the shape of a leaf, the markings on a pebble, the architecture of a cobweb. I have been brought up to respect nature, and to teach my own children to.

I have such huge respect for both fulltime mothers and working mothers. My work is my passion so it's important that I make time for it, and we are lucky to have a brilliant Montessori Nursery and Forest School near us. I try to be totally present in the day, whether it is a working day or a family day, so that I never resent that I'm not doing the other thing. 

The anthropologist Jane Goodall. She studied chimpanzees in Africa as a young woman in the 1960s, and revolutionised a male-dominated field. She is an environmental campaigner, UN Messenger of Peace, and a wonderful woman who I am lucky enough to have met.

Beauty is an inner wisdom, kindness and grace. My grandmother is 91-years-old and she becomes more beautiful with each crease on her skin - they tell her tales, both the happy and the sad.

I use rose water as a toner, and plant oils as moisturiser. I also make a facemask with yogurt, honey and turmeric which an elderly lady taught me in India. You must use a few drops of lemon juice on cotton wool to remove it though, or you will be yellow!

I am in love with the ROWSE Rose Water. It is so pure, your skin smells like an English rose garden.

Here you go:

- Delicate wildflowers press beautifully, like poppies, forget-me-nots and primulas. Leaves and grasses also press well, and herbs from your window box too.

- Avoid excess moisture on your flowers by picking them when it is dry, and when there is no early morning dew on them.

- Keep flowers in water if you are unable to press them straight away, so the stalks stay well hydrated.

- If you would like to enjoy them fresh in a vase first, press them before they show any signs of wilting or turning brown.

- Lay flowers between two sheets of absorbent paper - blotting paper or kitchen paper - sandwiched between two sheets of thick cardboard.

- Flowers with flat faces can be laid face down with the stem cut short. If laying the flower on its side, make sure the petals don't overlap too much.

- If using a traditional flower press, tighten the wingnuts in each corner evenly. If using a heavy book, tie a band or string around and lay more books on top.

- Leave for 3 weeks! Use tweezers to move particularly delicate dried flowers.