Table Painting

Now I am living in Taplow Court, Berkshire. I have moved house seven times and it takes a while to get to know and feel some sort of familiarity and a little ease in a new place. One thing that helps is getting to know the immediate environment. The most direct approach I think is some sort of gardening – putting my hands directly in the earth. Careful observation of the world around me too – the plants that happily grow in this environment, the wind direction, where the sun rises and sets and the lights it casts, and the shadows, the texture of the soil, the various insects, seeing a grass snake in my small garden – the first I’ve ever seen. Then I have been painting which brings up the big question – how can I make a response to this place, how can I somehow join in with this astonishing on going creation true to myself. It involves wrestling – with myself and with the materials – too wet, too dry, too slippery, too red, too static – actually at times it is completely out of control – but if instead of abandoning the whole thing, if I can stay in there, accepting the chaos and the uncomfortable unknown and the potential for failure, then some thing surprising and new can emerge, - like a butterfly… I work with a variety of materials and methods – oil, ink, gouache, watercolour, mono-printing, collage, drawing with charcoal, crayons, sand and light. Over the years I have developed different personal genres – still life, flowers, landscapes, tea parties, portraiture, figurative and abstract. I hope you enjoy wandering through my life of art – and if you want to know more please do contact me.