This exhibition, held with my husband Martin in our garden studio, shows a selection of small pieces in pastels, oils and acrylics focussing on surface texture, colour, line, and pattern. The work explores the themes of growth, natural cycles and social interaction through the motifs of trees and birds.
The birds, partly invented, are based on geese commonly seen here in Otmoor, and pelicans and flamingos from London and the Cotswolds. To me flocks of birds with their hierarchies and rituals seem to share some similarity with the foibles of human society.
My tree works are primarily based on the espalier apple trees in the garden but there are also pieces that take inspiration from the wonderful old apple trees in the walled garden at Rousham. The rhythm of branches become lines of interconnecting pattern and spirals to emphasise the unstoppable force of nature that I witness each year and amongst some branches are falling apples which mark the end of the life cycle and regeneration.
In my work I aim to create bold, light hearted, quirky images that draw on observations and are then developed imaginatively through process and materials. After an art degree, then a career in art teaching, I now spend much of my time making art, learning a little more about it each day with each piece.