Working outside directly from nature is important to me. I’m able to observe the constantly changing events that make up the landscape, often revisiting the same locations at different times: day, night, winter, summer. Being connected to the processes of growth, decay, rebirth, feeling the effects of weather and light, all this is the genesis of painting for me. The landscape itself often suggests the style of working; sometimes simplified to the point of abstraction, at others more representational. More often than not I work in series, exploring a motif under different conditions, over time, following suggestions from the working process itself.
I find I have a strong affinity with the Canadian Group of seven, particularly Tom Thompson, Fred Varley and Arthur Lismer, in whose painting the forces of nature seem to surge with a vital energy. Nearer to home the English landscape tradition is a source of inspiration, the Romantic moderns where Mondrian’s influence can be felt. I also feel grateful for the example of Rowland Hilder and an excitement about Eric Ravillious’ watercolours.
Having taught art for a large part of my life, I was encouraged in my transition to full-time painting to have work accepted from a nationwide entry of 1500 and to be shown as one of fifty artists over fifty years of age in Brighton’s celebration of age exhibition, in 2006.
Since then I have exhibited in a variety of shows including: The Mercury Theatre Colchester (2008), Norwich Castle Open (2010). During 2011 I took part for a second year in Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios. Visitors found the opportunity to visit my riverside studio, set in the landscape from which the paintings have developed, to be enjoyable and instructive.
Recent Group and Selected Exhibitions
| Year | Title | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Red Barn Gallery | Red Barn Gallery, Melkinthorpe, Cumbria |
| 2011 | Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours | Mall Galleries, London SW1 |
| 2011 | Royal Watercolour Society Open | Bankside, London SE1 |
| 2010 | Eastern Open | King’s Lynn Arts Centre |
| 2009 | Back of Beyond | Assembly Rooms, Norwich |
| 2008 | Norwich Castle Open | Norwich Castle Gallery |
| 2008 | One Man Show | Digby Gallery, Mercury Theatre, Colchester |
| 2006 | 50 Artists over 50 | The Gallery, University of East Sussex, Brighton |