Where did the time go...?

It is hard to catch up everything over the last few years and put them into a few simple lines. We have moved through tremendous highs and lows and it has left me feeling deeply grateful for what we have. Through these changes art has been a constant bringing comfort and joy. My art has changed taking unexpected turns along the way but that I think is only to be expected as your art reflects the changes within you.

Save Reading Goal campaign.

These paintings were my entries in the Save Reading Goal competition to raise awareness for the Save Reading Goal campaign. Reading Goal is a victorian prison in the centre of Reading which was owned by the Ministry of Justice. The prison is situated near Reading Abbey Ruins and other areas of historical significance. Oscar Wilde was famously imprisoned there and wrote The Ballad of Reading Goal while he was incarcerated. The aim of the Save Reading Goal campaign was to convert Reading Prison into an arts and heritage centre.

The brief for the competition was to create 3 images that reflected freedom. Obviously this is very personal to each individual. I chose to capture dancing which is I when I personally feel my most free and a bird flying which I often use as a symbol of escape. I also created 'Summer nights' which is a personal dream of one day living by the coast and having the beauty and freedom of a summer night on holiday as my normal everyday life.

'Lose yourself'

'Fly away'

'Summer nights'

On the 21st March 2021 we woke up to the news that a mural had appeared on the outside wall of Reading Prison and that it could be a Banksy.. It was a beautiful sunny day and the prison is only a short walk from our house so i decided to take my daughter to see it. I had been shielding but by then I was allowed one exercise walk a day and my daughter was due shortly togo back to school after staying home for months. We decided to make the walk special by getting soe hot drinks and cake obviously at a local coffee van. It felt very special and I was grateful to be able to take my daughter to see some world class culture on our doorstep. To our excitement the mural was confirmed as a Banksy a few days later.

We later found out that the stencil Banksy used to create the mural was featured in Graysons Perry's Art club exhibition at Bristol Museum. 

'While struggling with creative block I decided to try and keep painting and to concentrate on subjects that were dear to me to keep things simple. This came out of an experiment sketching a bunch of daffodils my daughter bought me.

I visited the The Art of Banksy in Soho with a friend and had a fabulous time. It was amazing to see so many images that have become so famous in real life.

I started to experiment with abstract painting and painting in different ways. I have wanted to paint in a more abstract way for a long time and it something I want to develop in future work.

'Pride'

 

'Untitled'

'Untitled'

'Untitled'

I was asked to paint a mural of a phoenix for a woman who was a survivor of domestic violence. The mural was to celebrate 2 years of leaving her abuser and how far she had come in those years. The mural was pained in her new flat and it is a symbol of her rising again in her new life.

Research sketch for the Phoenix mural

Idea for phoenix mural

Finished mural.

These are further abstract ideas while trying to develop my painting.

'Untitled'

'Untitled'

'Untitled'

I became interested in light and how it changes when refracted and reflected through different coloured glass. I started to experiment and sketch ideas...

...after seeing these ideas i was commissioned to paint the below painting of light shining through a prism.

Staying with the themes of light and coloured glass I wanted to rework a photograph I had taken of a glass sculpture and then painted in a more realistic painting 'Camberley Skies'. This time I wanted to be freer and to be more abstract. I worked on this for a longtime and the project to ok many twists and turns until I found a way of working that I was happy with. The journey throuh this project is captured in the short animation beow.

I went to see music of the Mind by Yoko Ono at the Tate Modern. I saw a smaller show by Yoko Ono years ago at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art and I was keen to go again. The show was deeply thought provoking  and the artwork and interactive pieces were incredibly powerful.

'Hope'

I went to a show about the Expressionists featuring Kandinsky, Munter and the Blue Rider movement. I was very excited to see this as it was an opportunity to see artwork that I have loved my whole life in the flesh. The exhibition was quite unusual because The Blue Rider was quite a wide group of people and the exhibition featured approximately 20 artists but also included actors, writers and friends in their circle who inspired the artwork on show.

I felt more comfortable with the work I was making and inspired by the work I had seen and I started working more consistently. i also was also offered the opportunity to exhibit my work. With this motivation I continues to make artwork, trying to push my skills and experiment with expressive ways to paint and abstraction.

I wanted to create something in response to what is going on in the world. I wanted to make something for peace.

'Peace'

I am interested in astronomy and i am fascinated by photographs taken in space. i feel inspired by the shapes and colour and this is a direction I would like to go in to develop my style of painting.

'Twinkle'

I made this after creating my phoenix mural. It is an alternative idea I created while generating ideas for the project. 

'Rise'

I painted this after I saw  butterfly on our cherry tree after a long, cold and wet winter. The image gave me so much hope for the future.

'Hope Springs'

I painted this as a reminder of how fragile our world is. I painted the image on polystyrene to stop it going into landfill. I also like the idea f rubbish becoming valuable. This is something I hope to do more of.

'Our Earth'

The show was very successful and I had a number of sales and a commission from it. This is a shot video featuring my show.

This is a sketch of bulbs starting to grow after a very wet january,offering hope for the future.

i was asked to make a painting featuring a tree after another tree painting sold. Trees for me a r a symbol of strength as they bend and sway during storms rather than break. The roots in the painting symbolise a person's past or where they have come from. The sun and the moon represent goo and bad times. This painting is called 'Flourishing anyway' because the person and the tree despite everything they are flourishing anyway.

My daughter and I went to The World of Tim Burton at the Design Museum. The show was amazing featuring sketches props and costumes from a collection of Tim Burton films. It was fascinating to see how his studio is set up and it wa wonderful to see his development sketches. I impression I came away with was how prolific Tim Burton must be and it was inspiring to see the passion and dedication that goes into his projects. I left wishing I was as dedicated as that!

This painting took quite a long time to take shape. When I started it I had a vague idea of two spirits coming together after a long separation. The spirits started as birds to symbolise the two entities but I wanted the idea to be more direct. At the risk of being cheesy I wanted the birds to become figures. At the beginning of this painting this is something I hoped for other people but in the end it was something I hoped for myself.

'Reunited'

Years ago we were walking home on an Autumn evening and we were looking at the night sky pointing out constellations and other things we recognised. My daughter looked up and found 3 stars grouped closely together and told us they were the three of us. This went on to inspire these paintings.

'Our stars 1'

'Our stars 2'