Find out a bit more about me and my work
I’ve always loved to paint. For the first 20 years of my working life I was a teacher, which I truly loved. In 2014 I left teaching to live my dream life of being an artist. It’s in incredible journey which I’m enjoying enormously. I paint with love and passion, which I think you can see in my work.
I hope you enjoy browsing round my site and looking at my work.
I create oil paintings inspired by nature. I combine naturalism with expressive colour to create something beautiful, quirky and a joy to look at.
I absolutely love to paint, and I love where I live, so my work is a reflection of the world I see around me.
I use colour in surprising ways, vibrant colours sit alongside neutral tones to create something pleasing for the eye.
I absolutely love to paint, and I love where I live, so my work is a reflection of the world I see around me.
I use colour in surprising ways, vibrant colours sit alongside neutral tones to create something pleasing for the eye.
I adore seeing an animal, or a view spring into life on my beautiful linen canvases. My expressive animal paintings on natural linen and striking landscapes demonstrate my passion for painting and for the rural countryside that surrounds my Salisbury studio.
Approaching oil painting
My work is created from a combination of quick and spontaneous observation sketches in addition to my own reference photographs.
Once back in the studio I surround myself with my sketches. The process begins formally, ensuring structure, focusing on composition and contrasts. This is developed with layers of colour and transparent glazes creating a joyous depth that invites the viewer inside.
Artist's statement
I like exploring nature’s tensions – the animal is still but it could go at any second, the sunset is beautiful but soon it will be dark. I capture a moment in nature for a lifetime on canvas.
I work light over dark and thick over thin. Essentially what that means is the start of the work will have diluted washes of burnt umber or French ultramarine. This first layer will mark the piece out, whether it’s the structure of an animal’s face or the horizon line and features in a landscape.
As the next layers build up, the selection of colour dictates the heat, mood, energy of the painting.
After that it’s about creating a piece that the viewer understands, something they want to linger over a little longer.
I use very traditional methods of oil painting, starting with a formal structure of the work, focusing on either the horizon or the eyes; I build around those key areas. Only in the final layers can I allow myself the real freedom in light and colour. The splashes and flashes are painted over on a strong foundation.
I only use artists’ quality pigments. I use Windsor and Newton as they have such a superb range. In addition I love to use Micheal Hardings paints and mediums. His Kings blue has a quality all of its own. I travel for my paints too! I have raw pigments from a little shop in Venice and I use Charvin paints, which I found in a beautiful little art shop next to the Pontneuf in Paris; there are pinks, lilacs and yellows that appear to have leapt straight from Monet’s palette! I love the way these paints feel on the brush and the canvas and the incredible colours they create together.
Inspiration from nature enables me to create something beautiful for the viewer to enjoy.
Gallery
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