My Process

An Art Teacher once said that your first goal is to discover materials that you find supportive and comfortable and that you look forward to using again and again. For me, drawing has always been my first love, be it wax crayons as a young child, pen & ink during my time with Moorcroft, or now using pencils, I am never happier than when I am drawing. The basis of my art education was still life drawing and using this to develop surface pattern designs. It is the depth of the shadows and the darkness of the tones which creates the negative space and actually turns the spotlight onto the subject. Be it in monotone or colour today I am still striving to develop this same technique.

Now as an Art Teacher myself, my aim is to pass on my skills and my passion for art to my students. Helping them to see the world anew, helping them to create a caring nature and to care for nature around them. I have been fortunate enough to have been able to travel and see nature as it should be. I am now using this as the source material for my drawings, sharing my experiences with people and, hopefully, giving them inspiration.

As I have got older I have been using my art as a way to record my memories. It is important for me to capture the essence of my subject and so I have developed a technique of using technology to support a foundation of life drawing and surface pattern which I still love. Over time I have used this technique producing pictures for family and friends, allowing them to remember love ones and beloved pets they have lost or just moments in time that are just too good to be forgotten.

Whilst 2020 has been difficult for all of us the COVID lockdown has given me the opportunity to develop and focus on what is important to me. Creating art work that means so much to people, art work which reproduces their memories and a keepsake to keep their memories alive.

The basis of a good drawing is two fold: a photograph for structure and context plus a series of sketchers for atmosphere and a sense of perspective. Using a tablet and pencil I draw a digital image from photograph, after which I can transfer this digital image to canvas or drawing paper, depending upon choice. From this point good old fashioned pencils, pens or paint take over as I use years of life drawing skills to recreate a faithful representation of the subject.

Once completed I use this original picture to produce a limited number of prints, with both the original and prints being available for sale.