Working Methods
The forces of nature and its effects on the land and seascape provide an endless source of inspiration for my art. Impressions gained from places as diverse as Cornwall, Dorset, Cyprus, Southern Spain, The Canary Islands and Italy all inform my work.
The starting point for all paintings and prints comes from rigorous research through drawings carried out in the open air; my sketch books are highly personal documents that involve my thoughts, feelings and response to the environment in front of me.
Drawing in the open is immediate and rapid using pencil, black felt tip pen, graphite, charcoal, oil pastel, Aquarelle pastels, and washes of water colour, occasionally working over colour washed pages and tissue underlay.
Impressions, textures, rubbings, colours, lines and formations are constantly collected becoming a visual compilation of memories of certain times and places, and of the emotions that these inspire.
In the studio I tend to work in series of paintings and work on several paintings in a series at any one time. The media employed can be as diverse as the elements painted, such as marble dust and gum Arabic, plaster, sand of different types, powdered graphite, gold leaf and acrylic paints. I am always striving to obtain the appearance in terms of texture and colour of the elements that I am working from. I find as I work from these drawings in the studio that painting is a silent and meditative occupation, each painting being a personal journey often involving a struggle and always raising the question of the fine line between completion and being overworked.