About my work

My paintings are essentially about light and creating images that emerge from the surface of paint. The play of light reveals and hides detail, allowing the build up of thin layers of oil paint, applied with a dry brush, to be as important as the subject matter. I am concerned with the feeling a painting gives you rather than actual realism. I want to create emotions in people be it of contemplation, refelection or unity with the subject.

Primarily I am a figurative painter and perhaps most recognised for my small smoky images of the female nude playing on the subtleties of light,shadow and depth. This facination with the beauty of the female form developed from my love of 19th Century nude photography and also influences of the old masters such as Caravaggio and Rubens. My postcard sized wooden panels have been described by critics as 'reminiscent of Degas and those Victorian photographs of women accidently glimpsed in domestic surroundings.'

In 2006 I became runner up in the prestigious Lynn Painter Stainer Prize held at Painters Hall in London for the series of small nudes below. The award aims to promote the art of figurative painting and skill of draugtmanship and attracts over 800 entries.

Slow Dancing, Oil on board 40x20cm

Many of my influences are taken from places and countries that I have visited. Colours, patterns, people, my interpretation of what I saw and felt; these are all vital factors in my paintings. In 2005 I was fortunate enough to travel through Nepal, India and Thailand and the Oriental works are my direct observations, memories and feelings toward the countries. A moment in time, a face, a smell, a connection that I will never forget.

My latest body of work is a reaction to the landscape aound me. A recent relocation to the North Norfolk coast from living in Edinburgh for 9 years, has led me to attempt to paint the constantly shifting and limitless landscape. These paintings are produced as a result of both the physcial and psycological experiences of discovering and responding to the beautiful coastline around me.