Current and recent Projects
Event participation at Centre for Alternative Technology.
On 4th and 5th June I exhibited smaller work for sale at the Ecology Anniversary conference at CAT, where work was purchased by the Ecology Building Society for their art collection.
On 29th and 30th June I led a collaborative painting workshop for all ages at the centre as part of the Living Landscape festival, an event which explored all aspects of landscape such as land use, history, ecology, and heritage. The resulting painting was a large canvas in acrylic in response to the mountain Tarren y Gesail opposite CAT.
Of Times and Places
An exhibition at MOMA Wales
January 22nd - March 5th 2011
A new series of 15 small paintings in oil on board made directly in the landscape. Each painting is made in one sitting. Many of the paintings are made in the landscape around Corris, Machynlleth and the surrounding area of Mid-Wales in many kinds of weather between 2009-2011. The 'outdoor' series are shown alongside one larger canvas developed over a longer period of time in the studio.
Ground floor gallery at MOMA Wales, Machynlleth, from 22nd January until 5th March 2011.
Exhibition
Paintings from the landscape
Solo exhibition of paintings at Corris Institute, Corris, Machynlleth, Powys.
30th October 2010 - 12 December 2010
Paintings are inspired by the landscape around Corris, in particular the depiction of the form of a valley to suggest vast space. I also love the strong contrasts of light and mood in a valley, and try to capture a sense of change and the fleeting, as if a sensation is about to leave my grasp.
Some of the smaller paintings are direct responses to the environment at a particular time of day and season, whereas the larger pieces and others are a mixture of memories, and layered responses to landscape.
Selected paintings were also included to add a sense of emptiness in suggestions of fading derelicts, mysterious structures and tunnels.
I use the possibilities of mark making in oil paint – such as the exaggeration and direction of colour which can both create a sense of movement, or stillness and mystery, or the economy of brushstrokes which make an image seem to disappear.
Exhibition
Sense of Place
An exhibition of some of my larger paintings made between 2004-2007 in the Wind Pavillion at Centre for Alternative Technology VIsitor Centre, mid Wales. July and August 2010
See the CAT Blog page for details
Move to Wales
In November 2008 I re-located to Corris, a village near Machynlleth in Mid-Wales where I currently have a studio at my home. This is a vastly different environment to the cities I have previously lived, and more remote and dramatic a landscape to the Cheshire village where I grew up.
I have begun a new phase of making paintings outside in the landscape, as well as continuing with my studio practice.
MA Fine Art
I completed my MA Fine Art on the full time studio based course at Manchester Metropolitan University in October 2008. During this time, my practice went through a rigorous re-invention. I returned to many of the things that had inspired me when I first began painting. I also worked for the majority of the time on very small scale paintings in oil on board. Each painting was made with an economy of marks, every brushstroke becoming vital in the making of the image. See the portfolio 'Painting 2008' for selected paintings.
This solo exhibition contained a grouping of work made previous to my MA. I was invited to exhibit by Knowsley Council's Arts Service. See the exhibition documentation here.