Words and pictures

My work is anchored in writing and many of my paintings are inspired and informed by poetry. I love poetry, from Seamus Heaney to e e cummings to Mary Oliver and more and more. Here are three quotes from prose that inform my work:

“Art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos.”

Saul Bellow

“Hope is being able to see the light despite all of the darkness.”

Desmond Tutu

“We are all broken; that’s how the light gets in.”

attributed to Ernest Hemingway

To me, art can express and inspire and encourage that stillness, that light, that hope - stillness that is not passive, but patient; light that is human; and hope that is not a whisper, but a defiant and joyful shout full of colour and fury.

Sharing creativity

I am a big believer in the value, power and joy of making art as a way to express and explore our own feelings, beliefs and experiences. I regularly teach workshops and courses for adults and children, in the UK and Europe.

Find out more.

Pictures and politics

I am not ‘a political artist’ but a lot of my work is affected and driven by what is happening in my local and global community, in that I live in the world and respond to it.

"All art is political. Art lives in the world, and we exist in the world, and we cannot create honest work about the world in which we live without reflecting it."

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Painting, like dreams, help me sort out how I feel about what I see.

Background

I studied Art at Warwickshire College, and English Literature and Language at Bristol University. I have a Masters in Child Studies from Kings College London, and a teaching qualification from Coventry College.

I have worked as an artist and illustrator, teacher, writer and editor for more than 25 years.