After teaching and being a mentor in formal educational settings for over 30 years, I love designing and running workshops for relaxation and nurturing creativity. These centre around fabric decoration and manipulation and follow the principles of slow sewing, incorporating simple embroidery techniques.

I like to think of my textile art as painting with fabric and threads, exploring colour and building texture. Along with my workshops, I have planned and delivered school sessions for primary curriculum enrichment. I have also created content and led family drop in events as part of Kelmscott Manor's Learning and Engagement programmes.

I am happy to discuss ideas for group workshops at any time.

I have always been interested in countryside folklore and the language of flowers. This combined with the beauty of the lowland vale where I live has often inspired the images and decorative objects that I create, in a variety of media and combine a number of techniques.

For my first Artweeks exhibition I have chosen to create a series of textile pictures, which have developed from working on a very small scale in thread on a painted background. These consist of fabrics, threads and beading to make hand stitched scenes inspired by the local countryside and my garden. The dyed backgrounds are the starting point for layering of hand painted silks and cottons, which are then held in place with a variety of threads and embellished with leaf prints, beads and details such as embroidered insects.

Each picture is a painting in fabrics and threads and evolves as I work. Emphasis is on the tactile quality of the materials I use and the final result is unique. No two pictures will ever be the same!

Joining WOA gave me the impetus to explore and experiment with my own art, but I am also passionate about encouraging others to make those first steps into the creative world or realise their ideas in the gallery.