I am a professional Mixed Media Artist based in the heart of Cheshire, I create work from my studio at home. I originally studied on a Fashion and Textiles degree and later went on to gain a PGCE In Adult Education. I taught art courses for over a decade at numerous levels and finally I ended up teaching on a Foundation Degree, I loved working with adults that shared the same passion for art and making as I do. In 2014 I made the decision to leave my teaching career and become a full time artist…. from which I have never looked back!
My style has been described as quintessentially English, romantic and nostalgic. My work explores the richness of light, the colour and the texture that I see around me. Often focusing on rugged northern landscapes with brooding skies and lighter coastal scenes that are based on the memory of a place or a childhood holiday. Each piece I produce is usually made from a collection of places which I have visited both as a child and more recently as an adult. I don’t want the viewer to be anchored to one place but, instead, reminisce about memories and experiences they have had themselves.
During My Masters Degree in Fashion and Textiles I discovered ‘wabi Sabi’ and the ethos of ‘beauty in imperfection’; this really captures my inspirations and the work which I produce, I am influenced by tactile aged surfaces like peeling paint on walls and fabrics which are threadbare but laden with memories and stories to tell. I like to photograph and record elements of trace, things that indicate a remnant or mark of something previous. I feel that these recordings come through in the tactile surfaces which I create in my mixed media pieces.
I spend days gathering fabrics, It’s tremendously important that these textiles and ephemera are salvaged from a previous life, reclaimed and given a new lease of life. I then begin to create my art work by gluing hand painted papers and hand dyed vintage fabrics to heavy weight paper or canvas, I use a sewing machine not only to anchor the pieces but also as a tool to draw with, adding details to boulder-strewn fells, ramshackle fences, and the shifting waves and eddies of sullen grey seas, I often use a soldering iron to create burns or a leaden effect allowing the picture to become three dimensional and tactile.
IDEAS: Many of my paintings are derived from an ongoing exploration of the landscape but, with my purely abstract paintings, I do not have a fixed image in mind when I start, preferring to let the imagery develop and evolve through the process of painting.
I have never restricted myself to working in one particular medium and continually find myself switching between acrylics, traditional oils and both soft and oil pastels depending on what I am trying to achieve.
