ARTIST STATEMENT
I grew up in the ancient port town of Gravesend in North Kent, experiencing a more urban than rural childhood but with the freedom, as was common in the late sixties, to roam and play outside all day. This, combined with a home full of books, visits to museums and galleries, and outings to castles and prehistoric sites, was rich fuel for my imagination.
Early Life & Influences
As a child, I was lucky enough to be a precocious reader. I galloped through Grimm (with terror at my heels), constantly revisited the melancholy world of Hans Christian Andersen, and gleefully recited the poetry of AA Milne and Spike Milligan. I read everything but found I was most drawn to writers like John Masefield, L.M. Boston, Eleanor Farjeon, Elizabeth Goudge, C.S. Lewis, and the mighty Alan Garner – stories infused with layers of myth, archetype and magic.
Having studied A-level Art, English Literature, and History, I trained in Fine Art Painting at the Central School of Art in London. I fell in love with Central the moment I set foot in it. The serious grandeur of the building with its sweeping staircases, massive studios, seductive smell of oil paint and egg and chips completely entranced me.
After three hard but amazing years, during which I learned how to paint and how to make mistakes, I was only certain that I was ready to leave city life. My parents had moved down to the Kent/Sussex border, so I went 'home,' and my love affair with the countryside began.
The move from London, exchanging city noise for the quiet of trees and gardens, was like a balm. Bruised from the intensity of the degree, I went back to drawing: jugs of flowers, baskets of apples, patterned fabrics, my family, myself, the cat. As I worked and walked, finding the cycles of the lengthening and shortening days reassuring, I slowed down and tuned into myself. I read, becoming increasingly fascinated by folklore, the Green Man, and the earthy magic of the hare. I discovered Ted Hughes, Robert Graves, John Cowper Powys, and looked afresh at the Neo-Romantic painters of the 20th century.
Cornwall & My Practice
Being in the landscape, my paintings and drawings began to fill with symbols and archetypes, both real and imagined, layering meanings, creating atmosphere. Above all, I fell in love with the liminal space between twilight and dusk, dawn and sunrise, where the edges of the world seem tremulous and uncertain.
My husband and I moved to Cornwall twenty-five years ago, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Our deep love and connection to the Cornish landscape, its coast, rivers and wonderful light are a constant source of inspiration and joy.