Artist Statement
Concepts/themes/ideas
My work is concerned with layers of time and the continuity between ancient and modern forms in the culture of Rajasthan (India) and Morocco and in the landscape of Dorset. The process of scraping and wiping down the paint surface becomes a metaphor for excavating history, and transparent glazes are applied to allow light to radiate from within the painting. Symbols and stylised artefacts occur, within a semi-abstract landscape space, to suggest human habitation and a sense of harmony with the land.
The Dorset series reflects my interest in fossil forms beneath the surface and the way that the land has been altered by geological forces, farming methods and human habitation.
The Greek series evokes the experience of snorkelling in the Aegean sea, celebrating its diversity of blues and translucency of light, and perhaps pointing to the fragility of our planet.
Processes and techniques
Acrylic paint which I mix myself from pigment and gel (gloss) and pigment and matt copolymer emulsion. Forty colours kept in screw-top pots. I mainly work on primed canvas onto which a thin salmon pink stain is applied as a ground. Graphic marks are made with oil bar and oil pastel, which creates a wax resist effect with the acrylic. I also use charcoal, and make sgraffito marks into the wet paint with chisels and screwdrivers. Gold powder is sprinkled onto the wet paint surface while the painting is on the floor.
Influences
American abstract expressionism, Scottish Colourist painters, especially Barbara Rae, St Ives painters, especially Peter Lanyon and Roger Hilton, Ivon Hitchens. The late studio paintings of Georges Braque. David Hockney's paintings from the 1960's, especially his use of sgraffito. Eighteenth century Indian miniature paintings.
Career path
I took the Foundation Course at Camberwell School of Art, London, then the BA Fine Art Painting course there. I went on to take the Master of Fine Art course at Reading University, where Terry Frost was the professor, graduating in 1981. After leaving Reading, I won a Boise Travelling Scholarship to New York from the Slade School of Art, and then moved to London where I rented studios at Wapping, The Barbican Arts Group and at Acre Lane, Brixton. I supported myself financially by teaching part-time in various English Art Schools, and I gave up teaching in 2002 to concentrate full-time on painting, which is now my sole source of income.
My impetus for making art is primarily an inner desire to express myself visually, and to respond with honesty to the world around me, but I also need the encouragement which exhibiting and selling work brings.
CV & Education
Solo exhibitions
2009 - Earth Rhythms, Jerram Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset
2009 - Natural Forces, Coombe Gallery, Dartmouth, Devon
2004 - Paintings of Morocco, Atrium Gallery, Bournemouth University
1999 - Recent Paintings, Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre, Devon
1998 - Indian Journey, Air Gallery, Dover Street, London
1998 - Recent Paintings, Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne
1997 - Recent Work, Gallery Differentiate, London
Group exhibitions
2011 - Celebrate!, Sladers Yard Gallery, West Bay, Dorset
2011 - Gallery Artists, The ARThouse Gallery, Bournemouth
2010 - RWA Open Exhibition, RWA, Bristol
2010 - Summer Exhibition, Lime Tree Gallery, Bristol
2009 - 1000 Reasons, Bath Contemporary, Bath
2007 - Greek Diving Paintings, Morgan-Boyce Gallery, Marlborough
2007 - Moroccan Paintings, Bath Fine Art, Bath
2007 - The Light that Surrounds Us, Sarah Wiseman Gallery, Oxford
2007 - Ultra Marine, Sherborne House, Sherborne
2006 - Gallery Artists, Coombe Gallery, Dartmouth
2006 - Recent Paintings, Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne
2005 - Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne
2005 - Far Horizons, Yew Tree Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
2005 - Uncompromising Colour, Bath Contemporary, Bath
2004 - Maltby Gallery, Winchester
2004 - Above and Below, Coombe Gallery, Dartmouth
2004 - Gallery Artists, Catto Gallery, Hampstead
2003 - Contemporary British Art, The National Gallery of Kuwait, Kuwait City
2002 - Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne
2002 - Broadway Modern Gallery, Broadway
2002 - Coombe Farm Gallery, Dartmouth
2002 - Thomas Henry Fine Art, Nantucket Island, USA
2001 - Paintings of India, Moreton Gallery, Pimlico
2001 - The Pure Landscape, John Davies Gallery, Stow-on-the-Wold
2000 - Gallery Artists, Thompson's Gallery, London
2000 - John Davies Gallery, Stow-on-the-Wold
2000 - Lemon Street Gallery, Truro
2000 - The Maltby Gallery, Winchester
1999 - Summer Exhibition, Gallery 27, Cork Street, London
1999 - Summer Exhibition, Thompson's Gallery, Dover Street, London
1998 - Annual Exhibition, New English Art Club, London
1998 - Quantum Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art, London
1997 - Selected Works, The Harbour Club, Chelsea
1997 - Taunton Open Drawing Exhibition
1997 - The Gallery, Cork Street with Thomas Henry Fine Art
1996 - Summer Exhibition, Thompson's Gallery, London
1995 - Jaisalmer in Jeopardy, Groucho Club, London
1994 - Indian Journey, Gallery Differentiate, London
1994 - Recent Work, Cadogan Contemporary Gallery, London