Profile and Process

I studied Fashion Design at art school but found that I enjoyed the figure drawing and design stages a lot more than the technical side of garment construction. From there I learnt to cook which allowed me to earn whilst I travelled. Returning to the UK I was always trying new creative classes. I now paint from a home based studio I share with our two noisey miniature Dachshunds, Maggie and Marvin. Like many of us I found the time in 2020, when we were told not to go out to work, to address a promise I'd made to my younger self, that at a quieter time in my life I would amalgamate all my years of creativity and learn to paint. I found abstract art and loved the permission it gave me to explore and express myself.

My starting point is always a photo, something that's grabbed my attention and stayed in my mind's eye like a song becomes an ear worm. I'm drawn to watery colours and reflections, organic leaf shapes, weathered or aging surfaces.

My first layers on a surface are pure play but always holding onto the story I've built from that first photo, my collected thoughts and intentions - however fragmented. Other than this I don't prepare, I don't usually make studies, I don't plan, the painting evolves.

The initial spontaneity then whittles down gradually to more thoughtful layers and then to final editing.

In painting like this I feel a total sense of freedom and abandonment.

My paintings can change radically from their gestural and playful beginnings and transform completely when resolved.

This is Just Below the Surface No2 inspired by my time spent paddle boarding on deep, murky waters of the River Wey and the Basingstoke Canal.