Statement

"In early memory ...music was ringing 'round my nursery door"*

My earliest memories are made up of a cocktail of music and art. The two have been inextricably linked ever since. As a child, I would spend my days drawing and listening to music with Reggae being a particular favourite. Past civilisations were of a fascination to me then, as they still are and I would take references from history books. My imagination was fed by the colours and symbols of Rome but it was the Native American Indians in particular, with their bold use of primary colours (which I had access to in my own palette), that really allowed me to dream. The far off ancient looking landscape in which they lived was majestic. Their stories were a marvel full of mythical creatures, like the Thunderbird and their life was one where art was worn in the form of clothes and jewellery. Art went beyond being just a pastime so that it became part of life itself.

It was very early on, whilst still in primary school, that a teacher of great influence (Mrs Page) tutored me and fuelled the link of working to music. She would play classical compositions and ask us to draw to each composition, expressing whatever images we saw within the sounds.

To this day, that memory abides and makes up much of my working practice . I still take pictures from sounds. The colours that I use aren’t chosen, I taste them like the notes of the music that I’m listening to at the time. My creative experince is a whole one.

When I paint, I don't start out with any set plans, unless I am making a piece in response to current events or commenting on daily life, (such as ‘The Great Muppet Caper’ 2020 which was my reaction to the pandemic). Subconsciously I pick up pieces or intuitivily take snippets from the last image worked as a way of breaking the blankness. The use of repeated imagery links each painting to the past.

Time and surface are the two most important aspects for me when painting. I always work directly using whatever medium to draw with that I feel best suits the particular surface that I have in front of me at that time. Things happen quickly. The image is always laid out in one moment. I leave my edges raw and touches of the ground visible to the viewer by the use of applying thin washes of colour to begin with. This is a way of reminding them what is below the surface. In my lines you see a moment and in my surface you see my touch and the passage of time.

My main inspiration is taken from 'Rock Art' by indigenous peoples from around the world as it is free-flowing, pure, and 'touches my primal buttons'.

I feel that painting is like dancing, in that it is natural. There are no wrong steps and when it flows it is possible to dance across the canvas to a universal beat and rhythm, which we all hold within.

"These are the roots of the rhythm. And the roots of the remain" *

* Quotes taken from the song 'Under African Skies by Paul Simon, from the album 'Graceland'