Solleys Orchard 2 Photograph - Limited Edition of 250

I am an Artist and Arts Educator. I have worked for arts and heritage organisations in Kent and as a sessional lecturer at University of Kent and also Canterbury Christ Church University. In October 2018 I became disabled and with that huge change came a big change in the direction of my artwork. I was no longer able to physically manage the newspaper artworks I had been making for almost 20 years. Eventually, after a period of having lost confidence in myself as an artist, I began working again making digital collages and oil paintings. I had developed a language, a concept and a direction through the newspaper work. One I assumed I would continue to develop, careful only to question and invite thought rather than offering opinions. I have now, metaphorically, stepped into a more personal artistic landscape - something I had shied away from in the past as I am an intensely private person - but I find myself now making work that explores what I am currently experiencing. The new perspectives that come with seeing the world from a different level of access. I am excited by colour, by suggestion, by intrigue. Nothing is particularly obvious in the digital collages, you need to look closely and ask questions of the work. What is obvious, though, is the strong connection to the natural environment, to nature and, in particular, to trees. I am also enjoying the technical aspect of painting in oils. Something I can sit and create, something I can manage.