Born in Norwich and now based in rural Norfolk, I am an artist who has always had a deep fascination for all things visual, with a compulsion to render them on paper. I did my foundation at Great Yarmouth College of Art and Design and followed with a BA in Fine Art at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (Birmingham City University), where I graduated with a First.
I work mostly with watercolour, I particularly like the translucency and layering of pigments. Each pigment dries differently and I love seeing the textures and marks the dried paint can leave - it allows for new discoveries and also moments of horror versus moments of sheer visual pleasure. It makes the process of painting more interesting. I usually paint landscapes and portraits, although a series of still lives is in the offing.
The majority of my work right now is landscape painting, this is where I am at my happiest. I'm searching for what I consider a contemporary picturesque - looking at the beauty to be found in the here and now, with both expected or unexpected vistas. If there is a conceptual element to the work then this completes it, painting just a pretty view is not quite enough for me. I don't do this every time, but I do like a detailed painting where you have to look deep into it to discover more, like rifling through a messy jewellery box.
Recent series have been "Contemporary Norfolk" and "Pandemic Walks". Contemporary Norfolk is ongoing and is an ode to my home county, celebrating the sense of place and sometimes the wonder I can find within a 21st-century working landscape. Pandemic Walks is complete - during the lockdowns, I took solace in painting photographs of other peoples’ walks - having grown bored of my own - experiencing the landscape through their eyes and bringing us together whilst isolated in our own homes.
Future series to be worked on will be artworks on the celebration of the coast, urban landscapes (particularly Norwich and Great Yarmouth) and a series of still lives as portraiture - how possessions can make a portrait without a figure being present.
I have also recently rediscovered the joy of painting digitally, particularly with portrait sketches.
All works on this site are available for purchase unless stated as sold, please use the contact form to enquire - prices range from £75 to £500 unframed. Prints are also available.
