About

My interest is in the ephemeral nature of the colours and shapes that I see in the landscape and I attempt to tap-in to my subconscious while I am painting to discover the concealed. My work focuses on colour and expression and I like to represent the physical environment as energised by using lines and marks that show themselves to me during my 'mindful walking' and quiet moments before I begin to paint.

I am influenced by the works of Joan Eardley, John Piper, Joan Mitchell, Elizabeth Cummings, Ivon Hitchens, and many others.

I grew up in Wiltshire surrounded by the undulating chalk downs, forests and wide-open skies that make this county special. I have always felt it to be a mysterious place, where ancient ancestors appear to emerge from the hills, stones and trees to join me as I walk through the landscape. Like the memory of a dream, they linger around my senses and inform my arts practice.

When I am painting

When I am painting I am connected to all things. I feel the ground beneath me; the sky above me and the land spreading out around me on all sides. I hear the birds and insects. I feel the air moving around my body and the warmth of the sun, or the cooling of spots of rain.

When I am painting I listen to my body, and more specifically, I listen to my heart. How does my heart sense this space at this precise moment in time? How is my body moved, or challenged, by this place?

Sometimes, the earth itself seems to want to join in. Wet soil, or claggy chalk, invites itself to be rubbed onto my paper. Dry grass and twigs scratch the surface of wet paint. Tiny stones. Rain.

It's my hand that carries the brush and the water over the paper. My eyes that travel over the distant horizon and interpret that voyage into subtle movements with my arm and fingers. I think it is me who chooses colours and mixes them. I think it's me who decides where to start and when to stop. But, you know, I'm not actually sure.

People are often surprised when I tell them that I do all my painting outdoors. I'll walk up or down hills with my materials (occasionally without essentials, like paint brushes) and with each step, I'll look and listen, and feel the landscape. Sometimes the sense of a painting will come to me before I've even stopped to unpack: like a premonition of the creative process. Each painting is a journey: both inside and outside of myself. In and out, like the breath.

Living and working in such a landscape inspires me daily and I am enormously grateful for these experiences.