ABOUT
I am a painter and photographer based on the Sussex coast. I create abstract landscape paintings inspired by places that I am strongly connected to. My work can be bold and dramatic or serene and lyrical, reflecting the ever-changing aspects of natural forces.My most recent work is a series called Sandscapes, the result of a two-year exploration of my local beach at low tide.
A vast expanse of sand is exposed when the tide goes out completely and the sea becomes a narrow line on the horizon. Between that horizon and the edge of the shingle, intricate channels and wave patterns are revealed in the sand, as well as rock pools, worm casts and huge flint and chalk stones. Sea birds and crows stroll around looking for snacks. Depending on the weather, the sky can be a heavenly blue or bubbling with storms clouds or quietly grey. Down on the sands there is a sense of freedom and space to breathe.
In my photography, I focus on details of natural and man-made forms found within the environments explored in my paintings and I aim to reveal the beauty of familiar and overlooked objects.
My Story
I've been making art all my life, creating drawings and paintings and taking photos. I was born in 1958 in Brighton, where my parents ran pub, just round the corner from the Royal Pavilion. We moved to a pub in Worthing when I was five, I was a very anxious and introverted child and I hated school. I just wanted to stay at home and draw. At secondary school I became completed disengaged from my education, I was open about my contempt for the school and was kicked out of art lessons for arguing with the teacher. I left school at 16 with no qualifications and spent the next ten years unhappily loafing about.
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After hitting rock bottom, the only way was up and I decided to do something positive about my life. I had an idea about becoming an art historian and working somewhere wonderful, like the National Gallery so I returned to education as a mature student. I left Worthing to study Art History at Middlesex University, I got my degree in 1989 and managed to get a job at the National Gallery (although not as an art historian).
About four years later, I quit my job and did Foundation Studies at Chelsea College of Art, then began my career in magazine publishing, ending up as assistant editor of Art Quarterly magazine. I continued with my art while living in London and seascapes kept cropping up in my work.I realised how much I missed living by the sea. By 2012, I’d had enough of living in London and I decided to come back to Worthing and spend more time on developing my art practice.
My Process
I make art to turn my feelings and memories into tangible objects, and to share my personal vision with other people. Memory is an important element in my process and I take lots of reference photos. I also work in sketchbooks and experiment with collage to explore compositions, colours and mark making. I then move onto canvas and develop the work intuitively. I like to keep a sense of spontaneity and work on several canvases at the same time, moving between them so they share the same kind of energy. Over a number of painting sessions, I use a variety of tools to build up layers to create a surface of texture and colour that is exciting to look at. The most important thing for me is to surrender control, let my intuition to take over and allow the unexpected to happen.
Exhibitions
I was a member of South London Women Artists, showed work in the Dulwich Festival and exhibited with Frickleton Fine Art. When I moved back to Worthing in 2015, I joined the Adur Art Collective and exhibited at Skyway Gallery in Shoreham-by-Sea as part of the Adur Art Trail. My work has been on show most recently at Montague Gallery, an artist-run space where more than 40 artists and makers exhibit. The gallery has become a creative hub in Worthing and I will be having my first solo show there in the summer of 2025.