I consider myself to be primarily a painter although I produce prints and sometimes 3
dimensional objects, the intentions are the same, to focus attention on the ephemeral and
familiar objects to explore the beauty and history of the overlooked.
I paint in oil on gesso panels and boards that I prepare myself. The surfaces are complex
with a build up of layers of paint, sometimes printed or embossed, details removed and
revealed with elements of the accidental paired with the deliberate.
I am interested in beauty but maybe the tipping point from beauty, something just off from perfection, that makes things real, a brown mark on a leaf next to a bright fresh one makes that fleeting newness more poignant.
Painting from life, natural ‘found’ objects: plants, flowers, animals and insects are depicted
as life-size on the complex, layered background. I choose many of the objects with a degree
of nostalgia. For example, as treasured finds from a school’s nature table, viewed with a
mixture of mystery and wonder yet relatively commonplace. the subjects are often found en
route to the studio or walking my dog, detritus and street ephemera, a discarded feather or a
dead bee, insignificant objects of unknown provenance.
I am interested in the duality of nature, light and dark nocturnal and daylight, the potential for plants and animals to both sustain and threaten, heal or harm and in exploring preconceptions or memories we have of our immediate familiar environments are certain things more or less abundant? Is there greater rarity what can that mean to us individually and globally?
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