Swoop Painting

I am a British abstract artist from Bristol and take my inspiration from nature, wildlife and expressionism. My ethereal paintings combine highly detailed pencil illustrations of different species of flora and fauna with expressive, bold and colourful oil paintings. My most recent work aims to raise awareness of critically endangered species around the world with the hope of making a positive impact on climate change. When I paint I let my imagination and emotions take me on a journey. Although I’m greatly inspired by my love of nature and wildlife, I don’t tend to paint with a subject in front of me but rather absorb my surroundings, the colours, sounds and atmosphere, when I visit a place and then release my memory of it back onto the canvas so the artwork is in fact very personal to me. Each painting begins with loose expressive brushstrokes as I find my way with which colours harmonise best and then tends to progressively become its own imagined landscape where the essence of forests and pools of water are suggested but never fully defined. I like my artwork to remain abstract and open to interpretation by the viewer, inviting them to look deeper and explore the myriad of textures and colours that I gradually layer up using various mediums. I also spend hours meticulously drawing different wildlife species using pencil on paper, taking great care to accurately portray every detail so as to do the intricacies of each subject justice. Then I usually transfer these illustrations into my paintings giving the abstract landscapes further context and creating a striking contrast between expressive, rich paint and fine, intricate drawing. I love both processes of drawing and painting although they are entirely different experiences. It would be too hard to do one and not the other so I have found a unique way to marry the processes together.