Artistic Statement

I live near Durham City. I work from home, which is in a small rural village surrounded by fields and a country park. Consequently I see the changing face of nature in all seasons and weathers, which helps inspire my paintings.

Most of my life I have spent teaching, but I have also been an enthusiastic writer, and have written many short stories, articles and a couple of novels. Maybe it's this side of my personality which helps me interpret the scenes around me. The grasses, the trees, the flowers shake their heads, mutter, whisper gossip, open in the sun, endure the seasons...huddle together, exult complain, shout in joy...

This vibrancy, this quickness is what I hope to communicate so that, subliminally, through the paintings, we can feel ourselves in time with the different moods and aspects of the living world around us.