Blue Grotto Painting

My work is about the connection of life and death and capturing beautiful and unusual images, sometimes a question why and a sense of something ethereal, mystical, otherworldly or the other world of the 1950's and 60's. They are often saturated with vivid colour, high density, possibly inspired by old 1950's/60's Harper's Baazar and the first 'Technicolor' films of the 1940's/50's, such as The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death. The fantasy aspect of these films together with watching The Avengers, The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, visiting Portmeirion may also have had an affect on my work and given it a slightly surreal and retro feel. A strong influence was the experience of growing up in a walled garden, originally a nursery to Bold Hall, built by Giacomo Leoni in 1732. Entering through some arched iron gates, inside the nursery wall was filled with flowers, plants, fruit, trees, outside the wall, through the arch, 3 wood doors and a hidden 4th, was edged with woodland, wild with trees and lush vegetation to get lost in. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, First Class Honours Degree in Printed Textile Design. I was chosen for a 1 month studio placement by Robert Vernet Design Studio in Lyons and Jean-Marie Giraud Design Studio in Paris, including my designs in their collections. I produced collections of print designs for dress and swimwear fabrics which I sold on monthly trips to London and regular trips to Milan, Como and New York. After some time I decided to concentrate on photography and oil paintings, to paint exactly what I wanted, while also managing a shop where I was responsible for marketing, buying, designing advertising and window display, producing large scale stage set displays in a vast expanse of glass, to stop people in their tracks and this lead to a passion for interiors and working on interior design projects in private houses. Following this period I combined my own work with 10 weeks a year working for a golf scoring company at professional events on The Ladies European Tour. This enabled me to spend the rest of my time on my own work while also providing opportunities for photographing colourful places such as Marrakech, Dubai and Barbados. I now work solely on paintings, photography and on a private collection of print designs which can be viewed on request.