Artist statement

Being raised on the western edge of the Peak District, I have always had an instinctual response to landscape as a major theme in my work and as I have lived in various parts of the country have learned from different landscapes. Currently living in East Anglia, the sky has begun to take on a greater role. Although sometime making work in its own right en plein air, the majority of my work is made in the studio from drawings and watercolours made on site, supplemented by reference photographs. I often work on many pieces simultaneously, sometimes in thematic groups, often not, to deliberately let ideas cross-fertilise. I try to avoid having “my technique”, rather I like to let the subjects inform my approaches: sometimes very broad gestural mark-making, other times closely woven. Within a broadly figurative approach, I am interested in spaces, patterns and colours and have recently found myself heightening colour further than before and feel that surface texture is becoming a greater interest.