Bananes et Soleil 2020

This painting is part of a series of still life works created during our official Covid lockdown in Sydney in March 2020.

This year has forced us to slow down and find joy in the basics we often take for granted. For me personally I felt and continue to feel so grateful to be living in Australia during this time.

We are so lucky to have clean water, healthcare, easy access to nature, fresh air, food grown here and amazing sunshine to help beat the blues. The natural light here is very different to grey and dreary England where I grew up. It’s easier to feel positive when the sun is shining even if you’re imprisoned in your own home.

My intention with this work was to capture the joy of all the glorious free sunlight that streams through the window of my studio. Bananas and Sunshine kind of sums up all you need to live a simple happy life really, and embodies the “Don’t worry be happy song” in a painting.

Framed in Australian Raw Oak.

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I’ve been making art for most of my life, though the path here hasn’t been completely straightforward. What was meant to be a one-year trip from the UK to Sydney in 1994 somehow turned into a permanent move, and Australia has felt like home ever since.
A lot of my work begins outdoors; walking, noticing plants growing through fences, strange colour combinations in nature, or bringing home flowers and cuttings to paint in the studio. Painting has always been a way for me to slow down and pay attention. It’s where I feel most myself.
Before returning to painting full-time in 2015, I worked across surface pattern design, printmaking and graphic design, and those influences still shape the way I paint today; through colour, rhythm, line and composition. I’m also deeply inspired by the simplicity and spontaneity of Chinese and Japanese ink painting, calligraphy and woodblock prints, though my work has gradually evolved into something much looser and more contemporary over time.
Since returning to full-time practice, my work has been exhibited in solo and group shows across Australia and selected as a finalist in prizes including the Calleen Art Award, Lethbridge Prize, Bluethumb Art Prize and the National Contemporary Watercolour Prize. My paintings and prints have also been licensed onto homewares and collected internationally.
I still feel genuinely grateful that I get to spend my days painting, and I hope that sense of joy, calm and curiosity finds its way into the work itself.