"Orange IV" Painting

I have to paint, and I paint whatever catches my eye, be it a nude, a still life, flowers, a portrait, a seascape, cityscape or landscape. Painting helped to pull me out of depression, it provided a lifeline and now it absorbs me. I work mainly in acrylics as I find them infinitely forgiving, and am currently very drawn to photorealism - often using my own photographs as inspiration. One of my current favourite themes is what I call “dramatic fruit ‘n’ veg” which explores how the mundane can be made extraordinary through the simple application of lighting and shadows. I'm now branching out to include flowers and candles. Chiaroscuro can make the everyday seem theatrical. As I travel further on my artistic journey, I find myself being drawn more and more to printmaking and now regularly include linoprinting in my practice having been introduced to the mysteries of reduction printing by Alexandra Buckle. I have also now been taught wood engraving by the inestimable Anne Desmet RA so more of these will be appearing in my store. I enjoy the crispness of line you can get with printmaking as well as the ability to produce affordable pieces of art. I'm also now dipping my toe into watercolours using a style of monotype developed by Paul Klee and have produced a series of paintings of the standing stones of Ancient Britain as well as paintings of Tokyo based on my photographs taken during a visit in June 2023. In 2024 I was thrilled beyond belief to have been chosen to exhibit my wood engraving 'Woof' at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition - it was absolutely a dream come true!