I live and work in North Devon, UK.
This website is a selected collection of artwork from the last few years. I have chosen to focus on this particular body of work as it is reflective of my current practice.
I am currently working with oils, acrylics, watercolour, pastels, charcoal, graphite and metalpoint.
In the past I have also worked with and explored a variety of traditional and digital media (including web design, moving image and music / sound), in both fine art and graphic design contexts.
My other interests include gardening and permaculture; visual astronomy; rural folk magic; buddhism; electronic music, and learning to ride horses.
Education
2011, MA Fine Art: Contemporary Practice, University College Falmouth, Cornwall.
2003, HNC Multimedia & Graphic Design, Strode College, Street, Somerset.
1991, BA Graphic Design, Faculty of Art & Design, Bristol Polytechnic, Somerset.
Exhibitions
1988 – 2018
Assorted Group and Solo exhibitions in Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and London.
Please see the full exhibition listings for details and links.
Awards, Prizes + Shorlists
Longlist: Jackson’s Open Painting Prize 2018
Longlist: Royal Society of Marine Artists Open 2015
Shortlist: The Plough Open Drawing Competition 2014
Longlist: Royal Society of Marine Artists Open 2014
Longlist: The Threadneedle Prize 2014
Shortlist: Evolver Prize 2014
3rd Prize: Plough Drawing Competition 2013
Shortlist: Door Prize For Painting 2012
Collections
Works held in Private Collections in UK, Europe, Canada & USA.
The Sea Paintings
North Devon, 09.2018
My drawings and paintings of the sea and water are produced through a combination of observation and improvisation. I observe the fractal, chaotic structures and wave patterns of a consistently changing substance, and the effects of energy, scale, light and shadow. I improvise through the painting and drawing processes and make formal visual decisions throughout the duration of the making of the image, referencing the figurative and the abstract, allowing the image to either document or deconstruct perspectives and representations.
The sea can be passive, invigorating, intrusive; it can rest on the surface or rage against the rocks. The shore can be a place to escape to, to dream and find moments of peace. It can offer great vistas or tiny secretive details of elemental activity. The sea can divide or connect people and places.
Symbolically the shore and sea environments can be poetic, metaphorical, political, historical, emotional; full and void, timeless yet completely unique moment to moment.
I develop the images through a combination of processes – by spending time walking and watching on the shore, or from boats; absorbing atmosphere and effects of light and pattern, collecting memories; by sketching and photographing; and by working in the studio. I use a variety of materials (acrylics, pastels, oils, charcoal, pencil, various surfaces). Each medium has its own qualities, possibilities and limitations. I use various techniques and tools and also combine these, allowing control and chance to shape the outcomes. Each image is new and initially unknown – I have ideas and objectives, but each work develops a life of its own and this will inform the finished piece. I often work rapidly overall, and can become absorbed in details.