Artist Statement

My landscapes are inspired by travels and environments closer to home. Rather than being of a single viewpoint the pictures are an amalgamation of experiences. Some are based on specific places others more about the mood or physical attributes of a type of environment such as woodland or gardens.

The paintings are quite small and intimate but creating them on wooden panels I hope gives them a physical presence. I often combine a variety of media in the one image – acrylic, silk-screen printing or collaged photographic elements for example. They build up organically through the painting process – one layer leading to another.

My silk-screen prints are developed from my paintings. Paintings are photographed or scanned and manipulated on Photoshop, turned into separations, then printed in three or four colours. They aren’t, though, reproductions of the paintings but separate entities with their own textures, moods, scale and colour schemes. Editions are very small – there are usually no more than ten prints in an edition.

Sometimes elements of the screen prints end up as part of a new painting. And so the process goes round again…

C.v

Brought up in rural West Lancashire

B.A. Fine Art Preston Polytechnic 1981

P.G.C.E. Leicester Polytechnic 1984

Based in Leicester I’ve exhibited in 160 or so solo and group exhibitions around the UK and have work in private and public collections worldwide. I have been a member of Leicester Print Workshop since 2007 where I am also a tutor and have a painting studio.

I have worked on numerous commissions in the public and private sectors, with interior designers, publishers and museums and art galleries. Recent clients include P&O, Faber and Faber and Rugby Art Gallery and Museum.

Residences have included Grizedale Forest, Cumbria; Buckinghamshire Art Gallery and Museum, Aylesbury; Leicester Print Workshop.
I have worked in many Education establishments since 1985 with students ranging from junior school to undergraduates to adult education. Currently I work with adults two or three days a week in Further Education teaching courses at Embrace Arts at the University of Leicester and Fosse Arts (Leicester City Council).

Solo Exhibitions

‘A Man of Many Particles’ St Judes Gallery, Itteringham, Norfolk.
‘Take Your Chances’, LCB Depot, Leicester.
‘Landmarks’, Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester.
Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal.

Some Recent Group Exhibitions

2012: Midland Print, Tarpey Gallery.
Midland Open, Tarpey Gallery.
‘Passion to Print’, Leicester University and touring.
‘Reincarnation’, London Print Studio.
Contemporary Art at Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire.
2011: ‘Small Print Big Impression’ New Walk Museum, Leicester, and touring.
‘Beyond the Horizon’, Embrace Arts, University of Leicester.
‘Figure’, Robert Fogell Gallery, Stamford
2010: ‘Social History’ Rugby Art Gallery.
‘Pushing Print’, Margate.

Selected Previous Exhibitions

Royal Festival Hall, London; Royal Exchange, Manchester; Godfrey and Watt, Harrogate; Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford; Fiveways Group, Brighton; Tall House Gallery, London; Merz Contemporary Art, London; Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal.