Idlewild (blue) Painting

I was born and raised in Kent, England, but have lived and worked in London since I graduated from Central St. Martin’s School of Art London with a B.A. Degree in Fine Art (Painting). My tutors were David Haughton, Cecil Collins and William Turnbull. In 2015 I gained my PhD in Fine Art at Loughborough University, with the completion of my doctoral thesis, The Christian Image and Contemporary British Painting: (the communication of meaning and experience in religious paintings) I am a co- founder and current studio holder at Cubitt, an artist-run gallery and studios in London, which has gained international recognition and receives public funding. I have exhibited widely in London, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. My works are in private and corporate collections in the UK Germany and Italy. I make both abstract and figurative paintings that are about ideas of presence.. That is to say the emotions generated by the presence of the paintings and the presence of the viewer in front of my paintings complete an emotional transaction. My paintings show influences from Baroque and Romantic art. Painters like El Greco, Caspar David Friedrich, Mark Rothko and Van Gogh have both inspired and influenced me. Many of my paintings (abstract and figurative) are made using the traditional medium of wax My abstract paintings combine wax and pigments to create paintings that have a distinct smooth luminous surface where colour pigments intermingle and blend within the surface of the paintings. This process results in a space for the viewer that is both contemplative and immersive..