MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST LIVING & WORKING IN SAINT IVES, CORNWALL.
OPEN STUDIO AUG & SEPT. FOR ANY INFORMATION ON SALES, COMMISSIONS OR TO ARRANGE A STUDIO VISIT PLEASE USE CONTACT FORM.
PAINTING, CARVING & ASSOCIATED PURSUITS
PAINTING IN THEORY
PLOUGHING THE FIELD
Painting for me, has always been a slow, thoughtful systematic process of cultivation. It grows out of constant looking, drawing and image making in sketchbooks, where ideas and symbols are repeated, combined and reworked over what is now many years into autonomous vignettes of a larger imagined world.
Within these spaces or fields, I endeavour to freeze the moment of contact between the observer and observed, creating an eternal glimpse. The moment is pregnant with ambiguous possibility, deliberately avoiding the service of a single narrative or fixed meaning. Instead, the work aims to establish a quiet sense of communion between the viewer and the image, allowing personal meaning to emerge and evolve over time.
My painting practice moves between two recurring avenues of expression. One is rooted in pattern through technical drawing, where figure and ground originate from the same source and are constructed with mathematical precision. Through repetition and subtle variation these works reveal structures that may not be immediately apparent, unfolding gradually through close observation. Stylised floral motifs and atomic blocks are overlaid rhythmically or in linear arrangements, producing double images, forming both natural forms and architectural order simultaneously.
The second avenue is highly detailed figurative and illustrative painting, which is informed by Art, Literature, Fairy Tales, Dream Sequences, and Childhood Memories. These works seek to capture and suspend moments of encounter between the viewer and the viewed. Existing somewhere between hyper-reality and surrealism. The places depicted are always familiar to me; locations I have returned to many times, spaces that have accumulated symbolic meaning through lived experience. The figures within them carry autobiographical significance, yet resist clear explanation, functioning much like dreams in which meaning is inferred retrospectively and evolves through time.
Across both approaches, my work is shaped by a deep engagement with nature, architecture, history, and symbolism. Plants, animals, structures and objects recur throughout different series, often revealing their significance to me only through the act of painting itself. In this way, each body of work becomes an introspective journey. One that values stillness, ambiguity, and attentive observation, inviting the viewer to bring their own memories and interpretations to the work.
If you are a gallery interested in showing my work, or an individual interested in becoming a collector and buying original paintings, please get in touch via contact form.
