This series of paintings is inspired by the music and poetic lyrics of Caitlin Smith--song poet and story singer. It draws from her CD You Have Reached Your Destination. The exhibition, "Te Ara Tika" is a Ngapuhi expression, which refers in this context to "the path all wairua take". The events in our lives form the path of our spiritual journey. The painterly process invited me as an artist to seek deeper, to inhabit Caitlin's poetic music by deeply listening and finding my place of presence within that, as if in a conversation. We each take different pathways. My footsteps are not those of Caitlin, nor are hers mine. Each of us has to find our own way, and the hau (vital essence) of our footsteps (manea) brings us the comfort of knowing we are heading towards our destination.