I have been interested in art all my life and, once my children started secondary school, I rekindled my interest by taking an art history A level. This was quickly followed by a degree in Visual Arts from Nottingham University where I met the other members of Art-Routes.
My work is inspired by music and by landscape. My experience of synaesthesia means that I see colours vividly when I listen to music and these find their way onto canvas through a very direct and non-intellectual response. (For more information about synaesthesia, contact me for a summary of my dissertation.)
For my landscape paintings, I like to work in a very physical way, with large brushes, rollers or with rags and hot wax. Again the response is an emotional one, rather than an intellectual. My inspiration has recently come from extremes of weather over the Cornish coast and from lengthy visits to Andalusia.
I am especially interested in the way we are all inherently influenced by our cultural heritage - not just in terms of our customs, language, religions, but also, more fundamentally,, by our experience of the shapes, sounds and colours around us as we grow up. This examination of my 'roots' has formed the basis for my research into our group's current exhibition. |