My 5 years at Art School in the Uk, training as a Painter, in oils, gave me a strong base of practice and experience that I shall be forever grateful for. We were fortunate to have a new painting tutor, join us, early on, fresh from the Welsh valleys: bags of energy and uber-talented. He had us out sketching every week, in all weathers, even in snow, with easels, in oils and in gouache. We were taught to be free, to value everything we did and every Friday our work was propped up and critiqued, like today’s USK Sketch Meet throwdowns. Our sketchbooks and sketching were a part of us and it’s stayed.

My sketches are responses to the feel of a place : the atmosphere, the cold, the heat, the quietness, the happiness of a crowded beach, days end and its brilliant colours..never just marks and lines on paper. I draw intuitively and quickly, working all over the page at once and it just grows. If I have a colour in my hand I’ll ask “Where else can it go?” . And that keeps things balanced and unified. 8 years ago, after a lifetime of drawing on white, I bought a grey Strathmore sketchbook, then a Seawhite Kraft one and I was hooked. Pure magic; what a revelation: so much more fun and potential!  And lately, all kinds of colours, different kinds of papers, pre-prepared experimental backgrounds and digital, too: fascinating.

My inspiration and interests

I am inspired, always, by shapes against the sky, buildings, telegraph pole and wires, trees, wild places, blue distance and textural surprises. In our cottage garden oasis I love to wander, glass in hand, and eat amongst the blossoms in the Summer time. But I love to travel the world, too, more and more every year: teaching, exploring and meeting other creatives. It’s living the dream and it fires me up. The USA is a constant: Spring and Fall in 2024. And my daughter lives in Virginia so that’s a bonus. There have been 2-month and 3-month long trips to Australia, tutoring at USK Symposiums of course! And all manner of other workshops scattered about.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

– Exhibitions: Moscow, Venice and the UK

-Publications: “1612 The Trials of the Lancashire Witches” Edgar Peel & Pat Southern-Pearce. David & Charles/ Hendon Publishing Co

“Art in the Classroom” Pindar Graphics

– Sponsorship: Workshops in Australia, America &  Amsterdam. Nova Trios provided

-Commissions: Clairefontaine Paint on Series: 6 Sketchbook covers, for the USA.

-BBC 3 commissioned drawings for a documentary on the Witches. Joint adviser for a filmed drama on the witches.  

-3 year Artist in Residence 2013 -2016. Arts Council UK full funding. 3 linked schools.

-Symposium Tutor: 2016 onwards: Manchester, Chicago, Amsterdam, Leeds mini