'Winter Blues.' Print

Recently I won an award for Best artwork at the 11th Geoji International Art Festival at the Haegeumgang Theme Museum in South Korea. My painting reflected my love of nature and expressed my concern for the world's rainforests. It was called 'Tribute to Our Sacred Rainforests.' My work often takes nature as a starting point. As a child I used to lie in fields and watch the sky float over me, and find worlds of meaning in the colours and shapes of the clouds. I explored the land in all seasons, and wanted to express this spirit. This relationship and connection with landscape followed me into adulthood, and my work always relates back to these experiences. I want to create a paint poem. Currently I am working on a series of semi abstract paintings which sometimes refer to waterfalls and rivers to symbolise the passage of time. Other times, suggestions of places appear from marks of colour as I work. My interest in calligraphy, abstraction, colour and suggestions of figuration allow an exploration of landscape elements and abstract elements. At times figures emerge in the work. When I was 12 I began to study Chinese watercolours, especially landscapes and animal paintings that had been rendered with simple, expressive brushstrokes. It has always been natural for me to paint with colour rather than draw something then fill it in with colour. I follow the life of the brushstroke and painted marks and they suggest worlds which sometimes echo my experiences or suggest further ideas to explore. My trip in 2015 to China (for the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale) was exciting because it affirmed my growing direction and interest in different types of brushstrokes. On my return to the UK I began a series of ink paintings on rice paper, with Chinese calligraphy brushes (materials bought in Beijing), and the new elements that have emerged have now seeped into my works on canvas. (Ink paintings on rice paper series can be viewed on my website.) In 2016 I completed a painting Fellowship in China (for the month of August, at Mutianyu, by the Great Wall) and this allowed me to continue to explore ink on rice paper, and brush strokes on a larger scale. I was born in Malta, lived in Nigeria as a child, and then in Cyprus from 1984 to 1998. My travels and journeys have influenced my colours and shapes, and how I view the world.I am driven by my need to paint, and my evolving ideas about colour and gestural painted marks.