How Artist Kirsten Todd Paints Women Empowerment, Energy and Connection

Kirsten Todd is an award-winning artist from Lancashire known for her bold, expressive portraits and abstract paintings. In this interview, she shares her journey as an artist, from discovering her passion as a child to building a successful art career. She talks about how she paints intuitively, allowing creativity to flow naturally, and how her work celebrates strong women, empowerment, and our deep connection to the world around us. Kirsten also opens up about handling creative blocks, the joy of experimenting with different materials, and what she hopes people feel when they see her art. Through her words, we get a glimpse into her passion, process, and the powerful emotions behind her work.

Award-winning Lancashire-based intuitive artist, Kirsten Todd, paints expressive, energetic, and expressionist portraits, and abstracts. Painting since a child, and after gaining her degree in graphic design, she has had a career in the design industry for 30 years, whilst continuing to paint. For the last 8 years, she has concentrated on painting professionally. Painting intuitively, Kirsten finds creating her pieces a working meditation, becoming in flow, in tune with the piece, Her spiritual side has a great influence on her work. Working mainly in acrylics, her portraits celebrate strong women, female empowerment, and cultural diversity: giving women a voice. Expressing the divine feminine and the divine human form to show, inner strength, human resilience, inner power, and realization of the true power that we humans have within us, our emotion, energy, our connection with each other, and all that exists.

Her abstracts highlight the forces of nature, the natural elements of this plane of existence,e and our intrinsic connection to nature, and this living breathing entity in which we reside symbiotically. Her artwork highlights the fact that everything is energy, has a vibration and frequency, and is connected to everything that exists creating an intertwined cause and effect, (quantum entanglement). Everything therefore has a consciousness and our plane of existence is a conscious living entity. Kirsten’s recent achievements include the winner of the British Art Prize Edding Acrylic Award 2022, Finalist in the Society of Women Artists Open Exhibition 2023, Winner in the Galeria Moderna London Invitational Art Contest 2023 at Castle Fine Art, Mayfair, WINNER Old Lock up Gallery Open 2024, WINNER and People’s Choice Award Haworth Art Gallery Open 2024, and obtaining a Certificate of Artistic Merit from Luxembourg Art Prize and the Pinacotheque Museum for 2023, 2022 and 2021 consecutively. Kirsten has shown her work in exhibitions in the Mall Galleries, Gallery@oxo, Castle Fine Art, London, around the UK, and internationally, with solo shows in the UK.

In addition to being the winner of The British Art Prize Acrylic Award, she has also gained several emerging artist awards, has been featured in 4 art books, featured in The Huts Magazine, World Wide Art Magazine, The Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine, Women United Art Magazine, ArtistCloseup, Living North, Arts 2 Hearts 101 Artists Portraits Edition, and Artists and Illustrators Magazine. Kirsten’s work is collected nationally and internationally. Kirsten is also a member of the Visual Artists Association.

1. What inspired you to become an artist?

Art has always been an intrinsic part of who I am—there was never a moment of doubt that this was what I was meant to do. From the age of six or seven, I just knew that being an artist was my path. I always had a brush or pen in my hand, completely immersed in creating, as if it were second nature. A huge inspiration in my journey was my uncle, an artist himself. As a child, I would sit with him in his studio, watching him bring his ideas to life, and that creative energy was infectious. He not only encouraged me but also later became my tutor at art college, helping to shape my skills and deepen my passion for expression through art. For me, art isn’t just a profession—it’s a calling. It’s how I connect with the world, explore emotions, and express something beyond words. It’s my passion and my purpose, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

For me, art isn’t just a profession—it’s a calling. It’s how I connect with the world, explore emotions, and express something beyond words.

Kirsten Todd

2. How do you handle creative blocks or periods of low inspiration?

I used to feel guilty and beat myself up when I wasn’t painting, but I’ve learned to embrace these periods of rest without judgment. Creativity isn’t a constant flow—it ebbs and shifts, and I’ve come to see these quieter moments as essential rather than as failures. They give me time to recharge, prevent burnout, and find new inspiration in the creative silence. Instead of forcing it, I trust that creativity will return when it’s ready. By letting go of self-criticism, I’ve discovered that even in stillness, the artistic process is unfolding in its way, giving me time to be unapologetically myself, making marks when the mood takes and giving me time and freedom to experiment, that in itself is sometimes enough to spark momentum into a flow of new inspiration. I’ve learned to be gentle with myself—the inner critic might be loud, but it’s often in these moments of doubt that my most authentic breakthroughs find their way out!

3. What role does experimentation play in your art practice?

Experimentation is at the heart of my art practice—it’s what keeps my work alive, dynamic, and deeply intuitive. My portraits begin with an abstract background, where I allow myself complete creative and intuitive freedom, layering stencils, spray paint, gold leaf, oil pastels, and other mediums. This stage is all about exploration, embracing the unexpected, and letting the piece evolve naturally. As I build up the portrait in layers, I continue to make intuitive marks, responding to what’s already there rather than forcing a predetermined outcome. Large areas of the background remain visible, symbolizing our connection to each other, nature, and all that exists. Through this process, I trust in spontaneity, knowing that each mark, texture, and material adds energy and meaning to the final piece allowing creativity to flow without restriction.

4. What do you hope people take away from experiencing your art?

I hope the audience sees the energy, power, and emotion in the paintings and perceives the overarching message of unity, empowering women and people from all races and cultures, and our connection to each other and all that exists. If people are affected by my work and it provokes a reaction, good or bad, whether someone is being moved by it or hating it, then it has done its job. It has caused them to question, to think, to have an opinion. I do hope, however, that people feel and see the beauty, energy, power, and vibration of the women I paint and have empathy for the message of empowering women everywhere.

Experimentation is at the heart of my art practice—it’s what keeps my work alive, dynamic, and deeply intuitive.

Kirsten Todd

5. Are there any upcoming exhibitions or projects you’re particularly excited about?

I have an upcoming exhibition in a gallery in Liverpool of my newest collection of work entitled Iconic Women, seeing them all hung together for the first time is thrilling. I’m so grateful and excited to see them all in the gallery.

Kirsten Todd’s art is more than just painting on a canvas—it’s a way of exploring strength, emotion, and how we’re all connected. Through her portraits and abstracts, she brings energy and meaning to every piece, celebrating the power of women and the beauty of the natural world. As she continues to grow and experiment in her work, she reminds us that creativity is a journey, and art has the power to make us feel, reflect, and connect. To learn more about Kirsten, visit the links below.