I am a painter based in Brighton, I studied fine art at the University in Brighton. I have also practised as an art psychotherapist in the NHS for over twenty years. My dual practice as an artist and psychotherapist inform one and other. Both reflect an enduring passion for using art as a way of giving form to what is unformulated: expressing things that may feel impossible to put in to words.
Working on canvas I build up each painting layer by layer using pencil drawing, oil paint, plaster, and stitching. I don’t set out with any fixed idea about what a finished painting will look like. The marks and forms emerge during the process of painting. Each piece has its own mood, energy and atmosphere, I try and tune in to the feeling of the painting and let that feeling develop over a period of time.
My subject matter is often related to mortality, sexuality and the vulnerability of the human body. Although my work has a human presence the forms I use are not human forms as such. They relate to the body rather that representing it directly. The forms are fragile or tough, are blurred or have edges, are separate or merged. Each painting establishes its own identity.
I have exhibited my work in both the UK and abroad and many of my paintings are now held in private collections