Painting & Drawing

The power of the painted surface is endlessly fascinating in it’s ability to engage in so many ways, be it meditative, unsettling or uplifting.

Painting allows me to explore the world of feelings, emotions and experience through composition and colour. The drive to resolve ideas and allow myself to work subconsciously is exciting and surprising. I know a painting is complete when it becomes autonomous and begins to ‘speak’ to me. I can stand back and engage in a dialogue. For me, painting and creating per se is akin to music and emotion where our sensibility stands alone.

Having specialised in painting at art college, I have continued to develop my work through the use of different media. The early inspiration of artists from Pierre Bonnard to Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon have provided much inspiration over the years. I have also had a long term fascination for the work of the American Abstract Expressionist artists Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaeler. The profound paintings and writings of Mark Rothko are something I return to frequently.

Recent paintings have  focused on land and sky and a slightly more figurative style strongly influenced by the rural landscape of West Dorset where I live and work.