I began my professional career in 2010 as a pastel artist drawing portraits of dogs on commission, specialising in hounds and Whippets. Then, in 2021, having completed an oil-painting diploma at the Norfolk Painting School, I broke loose from the tyranny of representation and began to explore the genre of 'flowers'. This is my genre now for I love all the possibilities of free-flow and expressionism it brings. The cottage garden is a huge inspiration for me in spring and summer but, as one who likes to journal, I paint throughout the seasons allowing their shifting moods to shape the narrative and flow of my brush. There is sentiment and symbolism in most of my paintings. So often it is feelings I'm painting, not flowers; sometimes there are explosions of joy, other times something more melancholic as I explore and express the naturally occurring rhythms of rebirth and senescence outside and in. In spring and summer I prefer to take my easel outside, exploring other people's gardens besides my own, drawing inspiration from the border as oil sketches on large panels, which I usually work up and complete at home in the studio. I am endlessly fascinated by colour and pattern and shape and line and figuring out how best to finesse these elements into a unified whole. I hold one-to-one and small group workshops at my studio in Hadleigh and this summer/Autumn will be organising some 'Paint a Rose' and 'Paint a Dahlia' workshops in a local garden. Please keep a look out on website for dates and details. All levels welcome. Previous exhibitions have included: Inspired by Benton End (Hadleigh Old School) and Heart of Suffolk, Thorpe Morieux, where I exhibit annually each winter. My work has also been on show at the Leaping Hare, Wyken Vineyards, The Colchester Arts Society, The Ipswich Art Society and The Pond Gallery, Snape Maltings. In 2021 I was awarded Highly Commended by the Institute of East Anglian Art.
