Empty Thoughts are Full - Limited Edition of 5 Print

My first significant memory connected to creating art was my childhood visits to the St.Ives School of Painting in Cornwall, England, where I accompanied my grandfather (an amateur painter) and took part in adult drawing and painting workshops organized by practicing local artists. I do remember the impact that the nature-based 1950’s abstract movement had on my early development as an artist. Visiting artist studios and discovering the work of painters such as Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, and Ben Nicholson had a profound effect on my understanding of what painting could achieve. These artists mastered the art of authentically painting the landscape, not as they saw it, but rather as they had experienced it. The visits to St.Ives provided opportunities to reflect on and connect with my authentic voice as an artist. In 2014, many years later and following a successful career as a head of art in the UK, I made the life-changing decision to relocate to the Mexican Riviera with my family. Now a British artist and educator living in Mexico, I once again experienced a deep connection with the local coastal landscape with it’s contrasting textures and vibrant light. This connection was the catalyst that enabled the recent transformation in my work, from pure observation to a form of figurative abstraction. I paint intuitively, sometimes stopping to review or acknowledge fragments of the environment around me, but more often than not working from memory. Just as a dream has no physical substance, my images are less about a surface and focus more on the pure experience of human perception and evocation. Unlike photography that captures a moment that’s gone forever, my paintings deal with the past, present and then become an ongoing meditation on a timeless experience. My paintings encourage the viewer to celebrate, identify with and meditate on what it means to be present in the moment. "The ancient valid response of the painter to the world around him is one of delight and amazement, and we must recapture it." Patrick Heron