Since I can recall, I have experienced a continuous and innate desire to create, be it observational and figurative painting and drawing or textile art and crafts. Making has brought me great joy in life, providing a sense of accomplishment, challenge and discovery, as well as sustaining my equilibrium, a comforting and mindful endeavour. Throughout my life I have always had an art project on the go.

On moving to Sheffield in 2018 I began my discovery and exploration of the Peak District. I was overwhelmed by the variety of stunning landscapes that were accessible to me.

My weekly runs in the countryside became constantly interrupted by numerous ‘photo opportunities’. Walks became more strategically planned, reconnaissance missions. Thoughts of the sun’s orientation, and a suitable range of rock outcrops and faces to encounter en-route, became prime considerations. I felt immersed in a landscape that inundated my senses with its sheer expanse of beauty and drama, it screamed, LOOK AT ME!

This sugar rush of visual delights determined me to return to my earliest passion, that of drawing and painting. An attempt to recreate on paper and canvas the images of the Peaks that had stimulated my own sensual response. The seasonal range and changes of weather that affect colour, contrast and shadow. The compositions of vistas, the juxtaposition of angles and shapes in the topography peculiar to the locale.

My desire is that the paintings might allow the viewer to experience that momentary suspension of reality. Can gritstone look that colourful? Can the sky be that blue? Do rocks really take on those shapes?

Welcome to my work.