Recent Works

The illustrated poem that I have done this year is all about getting out and about in wet weather and looking for rainbows - Let's go hunt rainbows

The historic setting of Papplewick Pumping Station, celebrating 140 years since the James Watt beam engines were first fired up, has been the inspiration for some acrylics. I have volunteered there for many years, but have never done any paintings of it.

Bramley Apple Exhibition Prize

An annual painting competition and exhibition is held in Southwell to celebrate Southwell's world-famous Bramley Seedling Apple.

This year I decided to enter and did a watercolour from a photo taken at the fruit farm in Southwell. I also entered an acrylic that I did in Covid lockdown, which is based on the work of Rene Magritte, whose work often featured apples.

I was delighted to win the acrylic prize.

Previously...

I have been doing some landscapes in watercolour and acrylic, inspired by the birds, stunning landscape and gardens at Clumber Park.

I had plenty of time on my hands due to covid lockdowns and have spent a lot of time doing portraits, thanks to #PAOTW, Portrait Artist of The Week, a live stream from Sky Arts, which proved to be a challenging and rewarding exercise. I took part in the 10 years celebration of the program by painting Sir Lenny Henry.

My acrylic paintings allow me to explore the use of colour due to the dense pigmentation and enable a wide use of surface treatments to be used.

I have also been using limited colour ranges in watercolour, using 3 colours and mixing everything from them.

I have completed a series of acrylic paintings about birds that we commonly see in the UK, and our relationship with them. These illustrate my poem Take to the Wing.