Want to know more about how some of my paintings came about? Read on...
June 2026 - Drawn to Dance
I explore my lifelong connection with dance in this latest collection of paintings. From earliest memories of ballet classes, through teenage trials and now the challenges of a body in mid-life, dance has been ever-present.
The concept started as the first module of a year-long Foundation Diploma with West Dean College, including life drawing and figuration in art history. My final series of drawings are self portraits from dance class videos - closely cropped compositions in black and white, realistically drawn and dancing over saturated colour backgrounds, channelling the energy of music with a nod to the ‘80s & ‘90’s. A series of smaller works feature outlines of other dancers in the classes, over the same joyous background.
This collection aims to capture the joy of dancing for fun, celebrate a middle aged body that still (generally) works and connect with my past selves, who were always Drawn to Dance.
With thanks to Thalia Hambi-Fisher at Neon Fuel Dance and Vicky Joy for choreography and videos and everyone I’ve drawn!
March 2025
This calendar year has seen a renewed emphasis on studio time over other priorities just to see what happened. I want to lose the feeling that I am only productive if I am "finishing" paintings and open myself to doing things differently to get a different result. I've been using collage and gelli plate to experiment / play with composition and background textures; also oil paints and retarder with acrylics to work on fine blending.
During travels in Italy, France and Morocco, I have been fascinated by crumbling walls and abundant flowers, especially where one grows out of the other. I wanted to make sketches on holiday part of the next paintings, however peripheral; to be able to revisit the same topic beyond the times I'm able to travel and bring a flavour of it home.
I am always drawn to other people's detailed floral paintings and with a solid track record of drawing, I know I have the accuracy - do I have the patience?! It turns out, when I put the time in, I relish the challenge, so it's not so much patience as consistency; making sure I carve out the time and keep momentum. Having the right materials to hand, having a stock of ideas and following a process through at least a few pieces has led into a new body of work. This was definitely made possible by the period of experimentation and not worrying about wasting materials or time. So much can be re-used - the more lives it has, the less precious it becomes, the more daring the experiment and the more interesting the outcome!
November 2023
The Florals started as a fascination with hydrangeas, particularly some new ones I had managed to keep safe from deer, which finally matured in autumn 2022. They turned from porcelain perfect white to a complex green and burgundy mixture and I took the photos to a three day residential art course in December. I was looking for a more personal approach than just "pretty flowers". Why did they speak to me?
The obvious thing in midlife is that I do sometimes feel mature in a good way and sometimes not so good! The fabulous deep colour resonated with me but also the shrivelled up brown bits! I did lots of development work with the hydrangeas but then, as spring arrived, I was distracted by these fabulous deep red tulips. I also went to the Cezanne exhibition at Tate Modern, where a number of still lifes involved him outlining in blue and, in the tradition of "stealing like an artist", I enjoyed combining this with the structured shape of the tulips.
There's something about outlining which says "I really mean it" so this series is called "Tulip like you mean it" They come in black tray frames and are 25cm square including the frame.
The seasons moved on and I anxiously anticipated peonies. The ones in my garden, although an amazing colour, would only be available for a week or so in June and I only had a few photos from last year. So I warmed up by trawling Instagram, buying a bunch from the shops and taking photos if I came across any elsewhere. Over 500 photos later, I still love them and I think they come closest to being "self portraits". There's something about the tight buds, full of promise, the showy blooms that all arrive at once and the dishevelled state of the petals as they go over that really describes my rollercoaster of emotions as I navigate peri-menopause - sometimes in the space of five minutes!
For a long time I've wanted to push past a boringly realistic palette in my work and the flowers, leaves and other background really lend themselves to this. The palette is made up of colours I wear regularly, so this also makes them feel more like a self portrait.
Each of the larger floral paintings come in black tray frames and are 65cm square, including frame.