The natural world has always been both an inspiration and a guide for me: a teacher of patience, trust and resilience, offering a sense of presence I rarely find elsewhere.  I felt this most keenly during a difficult period, when my own garden became a sanctuary and quiet guide, carrying lessons in growth, timing and care. Watching seedlings push through soil taught me patience, trust and the joy of small wonders. Failures became lessons; growth felt like hope. Nurturing life from seed to harvest reshaped both how I lived and how I painted.   

Painting has been a constant for me, from carefully detailed, local landscapes to small experiments and playful studies inspired by my period of reflection in the garden.  My canvases evolved into textured, vibrant, painterly interpretations of flourishing growth.  I am especially drawn to natural spectacles that envelop us and transform space: a shimmering laburnum arch, a vibrating meadow, a familiar wall overtaken by flowering vines—moments when colour and light offer something extraordinary, inviting us to pause and notice.  My period of reflection and experimentation led to clarity and purpose, guiding both my painting and how I share it with the world.

Born and raised in West Yorkshire, the focus I’ve found in my work has its roots in childhood: shaped by barefoot walks on the Welsh coast with pockets filled with seashells, the magical Flower Fairies I adored and visits to my grandmother’s garden brimming with homegrown tomatoes and fruit destined for homemade pies and jams.  These early experiences taught me to notice the wonder hidden in plants and places.

Art history has also shaped the way I see and paint, and continues to anchor my practice — from my studies in Aberystwyth to the lasting influence of Renoir’s colour, Botticelli’s symbolism, Van Gogh’s emotional intensity and Auerbach’s dimensional paint almost leaping from the canvas.  I see painting as a form of conversation across time and place, even when it feels deeply personal.

Rich in colour, texture and emotion, my paintings are responses to real places that spoke to me.  I work in layers of generous, thick acrylics, balancing the spontaneity of a fluid medium with the structure of a composition that conveys form, atmosphere and light.  The resulting canvases shift between the recognisable and near-abstraction: clarity from afar, dissolving into strokes, dabs and raw colour up close. This play of perspectives mirrors the way nature invites us to see differently depending on where and how we look. The almost sculpted, layered surfaces catch changing light and subtly shift throughout the day, echoing the variety and movement of the natural world; always offering something new.

Collectors often describe my paintings as being alive in their homes, bringing a new dimension to familiar spaces, transporting them to woodland paths or abundant meadows.  At their heart, my paintings are about bringing the life and energy of the natural world’s fleeting transformations into everyday spaces and sharing their quiet reminders to pause, breathe, embrace renewal and reconnect with the extraordinary in the everyday.