I am an artist based in rural Kent, the Garden of England, although my spiritual roots remain where I grew up in London.
Working in oil paint, I study classical and contemporary techniques, looking at painters throughout history to understand how they worked, and how to channel them into my own practice.
In 2018, I discovered Norfolk Painting School, which would change the way I painted forever. After a couple of short courses, I was accepted onto their Diploma course taught by award-winning painter Martin Kinnear.
The Diploma course hit the Covid roadblock, but they responded and adapted by taking the course online and developing a hybrid learning approach which was so successful I still study with them to this day, and co-host some of their online painting classes, now under the name of Martin Kinnear Studio.
The painting process for me is an expressive way of figuring things out by examining them through my paintings. My subject matter is therefore unpredictable and varied.
Qualifications
As well as a Diploma in Oil Painting, I hold a Masters Degree in Creative Media Arts from London South Bank University.
Original oil on board.
Early on
I think I was a moody child, would be gifted “if only she could concentrate”. They confirmed much later (in my 50’s) that I have ADHD. That would make sense.
I’ve always lost myself in drawing, painting, creating. It’s a wonderful thing. But not without its dramas. I would describe it as peaceful, as in a connected-with-God kind of peace. But noisy, with self-loathing and tantrums.
Healing, destructive, never boring.
Current
I have a day job which is also creative, but in an IT/digital way, and paint in oils in my own time, enjoying the physicality of the paint. I paint what catches my attention, it varies, but it tends to gravitate around landscapes and people. I paint a lot of studies after other painters, Monet being a current favourite. It helps with practice, to keep the painting going, when I need that courage to tackle my own studies.