Artist information
I am trained as a professional linguist, but I have painted most of my life and trained in Life Drawing at the Heatherley School of Art in London. I am primarily interested in colour and the link between colour, sound and emotion, rather than line and form.
Exhibition information
I am exhibiting at the beautiful Braziers Park in the Ipsden countryside, in the main house, in the Barn and Drawing Room, along with 3 other artists; Wendy Botto, Catherine Hale and Gio Botto, together and one sculptor, Anna Tomaszewska.
I am inspired by a connection with the countryside around me; I was brought up in a rural area and my father worked in agriculture and I have lots of happy memories of being in the open fields with him, so when I paint I am generally in my happy place. But what really interests me and provides a focus in my work is a love of colour and sound; I am a trained linguist and an amateur musician and it is that feeling of connection to something that drives me to paint. When I paint and the colour is flowing it is very similar to the sensation of connection when speaking a foreign language or playing a musical instrument. It is that feeling of plugging into to something pleasurable that motivates my work. It is not unusual for people that are musical to like to paint; there are many examples of musicians that draw, such as Ronny Wood, David Bowie and Bob Dylan to name a few. David Bowie sometimes painted his music to work out structures and emotions visually and once said "I am painting the music I see" and the jazz musician Miles Davis wrote "A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear". I definitely feel a keyboard of colour when I am painting and that it is a question of finding the right colour notes and rhythms as you work.
The paintings I produce are mostly inspired by the Chilterns and I take photographs when walking or riding around the countryside that later provide a trigger for my work. The paintings I produce are not exact recreations of what I have seen; I work mainly from my imagination and am more interested in conveying emotion rather than detailed lines and forms.