Shadowplay

I was visiting a good friend when I noticed the late winter afternoon sun cast shadow of this old statue on the peach wall. The warmth of the shadow; the cobalt blue within it immediately stirred my mind to wonder on what hues were involved in the cast shadow.

The statue was once a light - the girl held two little baskets containing tiny lights - and it was cast in the early part of last century. Painting bronze was also another exciting little challenge. It also amazed me that the blue of the plinth on which the sculptured form stands was exactly the same blue hue. A gentle yet restless moment I was driven to capture in gouache - that most patient of water based mediums!

I feel that the work would sit comfortably in either a modern or a traditionally furnished room, with it's subject matter and little bit of quirk!

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Form, colour and narrative are the elements that drive my art practice—a shape, a hue, a shadow, a story—all assume importance to me: the 'just so' fold of a mountain range; the luminous clouds of an afternoon sky; the hues lying deep within a shadow, or atop a highlight; the pregnant pause within a moment; the 'mise en scene' in a fleeting vignette. I am driven to record these things as imprints of my camera mind.

My work spans a range of subject matter that becomes the support for the interaction of form, colour and narrative. Landscapes, Still Life, Urban and Interior scenes and Figurative works all function to carry my own desire to both capture the immediate world around me and, in the case of figurative works, to capture a narrative that encourages the viewer to 'fill in the blanks' with potential meaning that resonates. I have a degree in History and Creative Writing, and it is the latter that I bring to the canvas in the form of storytelling. I have created several graphic narratives that extend the desire to narrate, and I enjoy playing with polysemy (the space between word and image). In the case of Artworks, polysemy occurs between image and title.

I seek to bring appreciation for the natural world, to chronicle the region in which I live, and the places to which I may travel, and to entertain with questions about scenarios played out on the two dimensional surface.

I am completely self taught across 40 years. In my early career I took part in solo and group exhibitions, sold over 800 paintings and prints, maintained a commercial studio, held several residencies and facilitated local art festivals and community art projects, before life stepped in and my art practice was suspended whilst caring for a seriously injured partner. I turned to teaching to retain contact with art. Now I am back at the easel, and selling prints and original works from my studio in Somerset, SEQ. I find my practice has matured; my second art life finally begins!