about my art

my approach

My instinctive approach to painting is predominantly abstract. It’s important for me to work with a strong vibrant colour palate which I use to translate my energy and vigour into my work. I tend to work on large canvases or perspex, which provides room to be expressive in an expansive non-contained way! Bigger the better !

For a more detailed insight into my working practice please refer to my Artist Statement.

artist statement

I am a Bristol-based visual artist engaged primarily with painting. After a career spanning nursing and midwifery to clinical research, science and pharmaceuticals, I graduated from Bristol School of Art in 2016. Since then I have exhibited in a selection of group and solo shows throughout London and the South West, and my work is held in a number of international private collections.

The process and performance of painting is core to my practice. I use paint to explore a transition between the contained physical and psychological complexity of the corporate world into one of unconfinement and freedom of self-expression, influenced by Abstract Expressionism. I apply gestural mark-making and a consideration of line to abstract figurative complexity whilst delivering expressive and emotional imagery. My preference is to work with a strong colour palette on large surfaces, inspired by artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Hans Hofmann, Barbara Rae, James Turrell and John Hoyland. My experiences in art making have allowed me to reflect on the continued influence of my childhood growing up in rural Norfolk, and the travel and cultural experiences that my professional life afforded. Much of these experiences evoke a sense of non-containment, and I often think of my painting practice as an attempt to frame infinity.

Alongside painting I have a keen interest in the synergies between fine art and technology and the potential for integrating experiential technologies to diversify audiences and evolve my practice accessibly. In Jan 2020, I received funding from Arts Council England to develop an Augmented Reality app-based work entitled ‘ABSTRACTED’, which introduces participants to the processes and performance involved in making an abstract painting. The work is currently in its prototype stage and there are plans to tour the project to a range of cultural and educational institutions. The future success of this work will consolidate my ambition that artistic abstraction should be available and accessible to anyone, including those typically missing from traditional contemporary art audiences.