Brief Lives Collage

My work embraces both the decorative and the observed. I draw passionately in a large Bible like sketchbook of which I have almost 50, going back one a year to my student days at Oxford. I print with small lino cuts made from these sketches, which I then collage to make a bigger composition. I love the definition of lino, and the lack of fussy detail. The figures that emerge are more archetypes than individuals with an inner life. I have worked as an independent artist designer, painting landscapes & portraits, engravings & prints, & I design & handprint textiles and wallpapers. I am a member of The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Artist Member of the Royal Western Academy, Visiting Tutor at West Dean College. I have always been keen to demystify and disseminate the role of the arts, co-founding the first Open Studio Weeks in Britain in 1983, in Oxfordshire, and the Lyme Regis ArtsFest in 2003.