From a small child I was encouraged to paint and draw. My parents enjoyed painting and used to treasure a drawing of a cat I did aged three and another of sea birds at seven. It is not surprising that a good deal of my work is now animal portraiture.
When my daughters started school, I had a craft gallery in the Cotswolds, where I could surround myself with beautiful creative things. After eight years it seemed like a good time to further develop my own art, and I gained a BA Hons in Visual Art at the University of Gloucestershire, studying painting and ceramics.
In 2002, on completion of my degree, my husband and I moved to Cornwall to run a small holiday business near Looe. This now gives me ample time in the quieter months to paint and be inspired by my beautiful surroundings in the Seaton Valley. I regularly exhibit in Cornwall and Gloucestershire, and more recently in Devon at Delamore, where I have been given the opportunity to to develop and have confidence in my work.
I work in acrylic or oil and aim to capture the essence of the subject by bringing it close up and abstracting detail. My technique is varied to suit the subject, such as impasto to give substance or splatter to heighten a sense of movement. I enjoy sharing ideas with other artists and we run a network. Eight of us staged an exhibition in 2007.
