About Me

My mother was an artist and I have always loved art and been creative but trained and worked as a dentist before having to quit due to contracting occupational mercury poisoning after exposure to an in-surgery mercury spill. This necessitated me retraining as a naturopath in order to recover my own health. Throw in a life-threatening accident or two and now, in retirement (something I never thought I would survive long enough to see), I have returned to art energised, excited, and animated by the chance to explore it again. My health is still somewhat precarious, but is vastly better than in my darkest days I would have dared to hope for.

The wild and crazy diversity of the natural world and the restorative power of nature are a constant inspiration to me. I work from home in the Cotswolds in Southwest England and my art is mostly sparked by the world around me - although animals or plants from distant shores such as the fantastical and beautiful Leafy Seadragon or the Mother of Millions plant (see below) managed to catch my eye!

I particularly like the organic shapes created by nature and sometimes embellish these to produce fantastical plants and animals as seen below (Papaverine and Kooky Coral respectively).

I often work using initial methods that suggest a subject to me that I then enhance. This way of working means that I literally don'’t know what I'm going to produce next. I find this approach to be challenging, fascinating, rewarding and fun (much is detailed in 'The Making of ..' videos on my Blog page/YouTube channel). It results in an eclectic mix of subjects including animals, plants, people, landscapes, still life & abstract art.

It also means I work in a variety of media (mostly acrylic) combined with collage. I have always loved paper - Japanese, Mulberry, Venetian, textured, iridescent – I love them all. I find cutting and gluing paper to be therapeutic and consider collage to be a very varied and underrated art form. It can be fun, quirky, beautiful, thought-provoking, confronting – so many things.

My aim is to create vibrant art that lifts spirits and adds beauty, joy and zest to any space. I don’t take it all too seriously, adopting a playful attitude and hope that comes through in the pictures produced.

A puffin made out of constellation maps with a haul of sparkly sardines or half a technicolour owl anyone?

I had fun creating the work you see here, and I hope you have fun appreciating them.

'Fresh eyes, lovely works and an uplifting colour palette.'

Jo

'I enjoyed your exhibition and like that you want to bring joy, zest and lift spirits - me too! Lovely stuff.'

Lydia

'Beautiful exhibition and what a variety!'

Heather

Now for two short reels showcasing first some of my mixed media and then some of my collage art. Enjoy!