I trained at St. Martin’s School of Art in London, England, where I was born. I completed a degree in Education, with Honours in
Art Education, at University of British Columbia. Subsequently I have taken courses in drawing and painting at Emily Carr College of Art in Vancouver.
My early training at St. Martin’s placed particular emphasis on drawing and this continues to be a fundamental element of my work. Figures drawings become starting points for figure paintings; watercolours become sources for development into my landscape paintings. I find using line, with its myriad possibilities, very compelling and I incorporate line drawing into my acrylic paintings. I use personal line making to make my work more deeply my own.
When painting I welcome the accidental, building upon chance elements to create interest and excitement. I frequently divorce shape from colour, playing with positive and negative space. I ‘rough in’ large areas first, moving to detail as the work progresses. I may draw over, around or through a painted surface.
I never attempt to copy nature but to reinvent it to create works that have their own autonomy, existing as separate entities. I do not want my works to reveal themselves too reality, but to continually offer viewers new elements for discovery.
In essence, my work is about covering a surface while trying to resolve the endless challenges this process evokes, and about the satisfaction it brings to me.