Born in
England in 1961, I graduated in 1984 with a
BA(hons) in Fine Art Printmaking from West Surrey College of Art and
Design.
Since then I have worked full time as an artist and
exhibited throughout the UK. My paintings have been internationally
reproduced as greetings cards, posters, limited edition etchings and even
fabric designs.
What excites me about making pictures is trying to
capture the essence of a place, or a thing, I am not worried about visual
accuracy. I am attracted to vivid colours and the decorative qualities in
everyday objects.
My daily dog walks, holidays and even trips to the
supermarket provide inspiration. Landscapes, new seasons, sometimes just
colour combinations, bright green
grass against a blue grey sky or shapes of moored boats in a harbour,
patterns on packaging all get me going. Fabulous bunches of flowers on a
flattened table are frequently all I need and I am regularly purchasing new
mugs for the next painting!
I work mainly on board in acrylic, occasionally
incorporating collage with gold and silver leaf. My training as a printmaker
is evident both in the use of blocks of flat colour and in the way I scratch
through surfaces to reveal pre-laid colours underneath.
My influences come from travelling in India, Cornish
holidays and the chaos of cats and children wandering onto wet paint. I have
also drawn inspiration from the work of favourite artists, including Mary
Fedden, Milton Avery and Daphne McClure.