Tess Jaray is an abstract painter who studied at St Martin's School of Art and the Slade School of Art, where she later taught for many years. In this essay she explores how her experience of ageing has affected her creativity.

She is an abstract painter who began working with pavement patterns in public spaces and urban centres in the 1980's. Her artistic concerns for colour, pattern and rhythm were combined with a new awareness of the possibilities of pavement designs to create a sense of place.

In her essay she explores the changes in attitude and outlook that an artist experiences as they age, from the excitement of youth to the acceptance - or not - of middle and old age. While Tolstoy may have needed to be continually in love to keep his creativity going, for others that eternal search for creative energy make come simply from a bird on a window sill. Show less