About the artist
I was born in Cumbria and educated at Liverpool College of Art and the Royal College of Art. I mostly work with a combination of small watercolour sketches, done on site and take photographs to use back in the studio. I prefer to use a brush and watercolour throughout the process. A subject will often take several weeks to complete, as I layer the paint very gradually, sometimes working with just the tip of the brush, working it up to a finished piece, and usually absorbing the original sketch into the final painting.
I spend most of my time working from my studio in West London, where I overlook a park which has been a major source of inspiration, especially during lockdown. My compositions are not clinical in their approach and, although veracity is at their heart, they are passionate pieces with much emotion and romanticism.
inSPIRED BY Nature
Having been brought up in the countryside, my early years of walking and observing nature have always influenced my vision of the world. At school I had a particular interest in geology and biology which underpinned my development as the artist I have become.
The changing light and atmospheric conditions which transform a scene dramatically — the repainting which takes place by weather and nature are often a driving force in my work. And, occasionally, man steps in and influences the scene, by farming the landscape or inhabiting the space.
Some recent work of aerial views of the earth, I have developed from memory and some photographs I have taken from my travels. The patterns on the ground fascinate me, particularly those formed following the redistribution of alluvial deposits from rivers or the sea. It all feels very transitory, and important to document.
“Like handwriting, the language an artist uses in the making of a painting is very much his or her own.”
TEACHING
I was a visiting lecturer at various art colleges, including Colchester, Maidstone, Brighton, and Camberwell from 1973-1992. I taught at the Dulwich Picture Gallery between 2001-2015, teaching a broad range of age groups, the use of watercolour.
At Bankside Gallery, I was Chair of the Education Working Group from 1999 – 2004, and organised “Drawn to the River”, a project involving members of the public and was sponsored by the Big Draw, October 2003. I used the combined skills of members of the Royal Watercolour Society and Royal Society of Painter/Printmakers to run a weekend of workshops for visitors to the Bankside Gallery. The finished collaborative artwork is displayed at Guys Hospital.
Presently I run two watercolour clubs in Dulwich, “Grange Lane Group” and “The Dulwich Woods Group”, who regularly exhibit at the Jeannie Avent Gallery. They exhibited at the Jeannie Avent Gallery, East Dulwich in March and September 2022. I also teach for the Royal Watercolour Society at their regular family event days and, previously, on residential courses.
Recently I have been running workshops for members of the public and a local care home with “Abundance London” who have created and installed an art installation of a flight of butterflies and flowers covering the Police Station in Chiswick.