Originally from Wales, I have lived and worked in Kent for a number of years. I started painting about 4 years ago, purely for fun, and it quickly became an obsession. I honestly can’t now imagine how I existed for so long without picking up a paint brush.
I mainly paint landscapes conjured up by my imagination and half-forgotten memories and love creating a sense of other-worldliness and secret places in either oil paints or watercolours. On the one hand I cherish the vibrancy and texture created by oil paints but also love the soft dreaminess that can be achieved with watercolours. In both mediums, the painting starts in my mind with a particular colour and then the painting takes its mood and shape around that.
I am entirely self-taught as I prefer to figure out the necessary techniques for myself – For me, that’s part of the fun! My imagination is inspired by the Welsh and Kentish scenery that has surrounded me for most of my life and I love creating paintings that both capture and evoke the mood and emotion that the landscapes’ drama and beauty has instilled in me. The tension between the figurative and abstract that underpins my work reinforces the sense of half-remembered places. I have been told by visitors to my studio and exhibitions that they feel as though they recognise the scenes I have painted, even when they can’t possibly do so, and it is so thrilling that my paintings can elicit such a wonderful emotional response
Exhibitions: I have had two solo exhibitions in Folkestone (‘Words and Pictures’ (this included some of my poetry as well as my paintings, hence the title) and ‘Where the Land Meets the Sea’) and also participated in numerous group exhibitions in the town. I have also been exhibiting some of my work at Gallery Du 808 in Bristol since the Spring and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
