Recent paintings, produced since moving to Nidd in 2020 have been inspired by the local landscape and the Yorkshire and Scottish coast. These are all places that I have experienced myself by walking and observing. I use photographs and sometimes I work en plein air.
The paintings are mostly acrylic because I can build up the layers as they dry quickly and as I have moved studio a few times I am not always set up to paint in oils.
However, since moving to Bravo Studio in Knaresborough I have seized the chance to work in oils again and to paint large in a way reminiscent of the paintings I made many years ago, linking my past with the present.
The work on show this year in Nidd Church will be a mix of acrylic and oil paintings of Nidderdale and coastal landscapes from fossil hunting walks near Whitby and travels in Fife.
Originally from Oxfordshire I moved to the North in the late eighties. I had completed a foundation art course in Oxford and then a B A honours degree in Sculpture at Cheltenham Art College.
I taught art in Adult Education for 12 years in and around Rochdale, Greater Manchester and Calderdale before completing an MA in printmaking at Bradford College as a mature student in 1998.
After the MA I moved to Knaresborough and then Escrick to work as a workshop leader at Henshaws Arts and Craft Centre from 1998 until the present day.
Throughout this varied artistic career I have always produced my own art alongside facilitating others.
In my younger days my work was very experimental, combining sculpture with printmaking and taking part in sculpture trails, producing large scale non commercial paintings and exhibiting in unusual spaces.
More recently my work, still varied has become more traditional using skills I was taught a long time ago at Oxford Poly and at drawing classes at Cheltenham College.
I am eternally grateful and lucky for having been taught art in a traditional way when I was young as these skills have set me up for life.
I have a viewing window at 10 Kirkgate, Knaresborough, HG5 8AD and take part in various exhibitions locally and nationally.
I sell cards of my paintings at Horticap, Otley Road, Harrogate HG3 1QL and can be contacted for sales through my website and instagram.