Artist research: questions and answers

I am lucky and honoured to get lots of questions from students so I thought I would try and answer these here for everyone.

Describe your work:

My artwork is sometimes intuitive and intricate and sometimes bold and colourful. It often features motifs from nature or the world around me. I use expressive mark making to create abstract pieces which feature repetition and rhythm, layers of complexity and organic forms. I’m fascinated by the interplay of colours, shapes and patterns. My paintings are rarely envisioned but develop over days as I respond to the materials and the marks on the page, creating complex layer pieces full of colour and detail.

What are you inspired by?

I’m mesmerized by the beauty, colour and pattern in the natural world and in the world around me. I’ll frequently have a love affair with something where I become obsessed with it for a while; from snow flake structures, to patterns on shells, or the colours and patterns on fish scales, or antique Indian textiles, or bird feathers or butterfly wings, or the patterns on maps… I also have some magpie tendencies and am rather drawn to the glittering and glinting, iridescent or luminous… I try and seek inspiration everywhere - I will go out and walk in nature or around my home with my camera - seeking small details and interesting patterns and shapes.

What processes do you use to create your art?

I experiment in my sketchbooks and will sometimes take a seed of an idea from these and use it as a springboard for a larger work or series of work. My sketchbooks are the foundation of my artistic practice, they are where I try things out, experiment and reflect on my curiosities and fascinations.

My sketchbooks allow me to gather themes and fragments of ideas that I may want to explore more, I can look back on my sketchbooks and see whispers of ideas forming and recurring motifs and fascinations emerging. I rarely copy something from my sketchbook into a larger piece, but my sketchbook is where ideas, motifs, art material mixes ‘develop’ and then these recurring themes turn up in my paintings. I don’t ever really plan out a painting, I have a tiny starting part, a colour or a shape or a detail and I begin and respond to what emerges.

How did you develop your art style?

We all have a unique way of seeing and interpreting the world and our art is a reflection on this. My style developed from making lots of art, reflecting on the art I had made and getting curious about the aspects of it that excited me… and doing more of that. I believe my art style is always evolving and developing, it isn’t a landing spot, it’s a conversation that continues and evolves.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?

As a child, I was always drawing. I loved spending hours creating elaborate and intricate patterns from my imagination. I used to get through so much paper that my dad started to buy me large rolls of wallpaper lining-paper to keep up with my insatiable demand for more paper. I used to have a large box in which I collected shiny and patterned papers, from sweet wrappers, pages torn from magazines, bits of shiny wrapping paper. I loved my “special paper” box, I used to like tipping it on the floor and seeing how the different patterns and colours combined with each other. So, drawing and painting was something which came innately to me as a child. But I only became a full-time artist later in life. I took a rather circuitous route to get here as a profession and it is perhaps all the sweeter for it.

Why do you make art?

* It’s fulfilling to make something from nothing

* When I’m in flow it can be meditative and absorbing to work with my hands

* I enjoy the problem solving, overcoming the obstacles, the satisfaction from keeping going when something isn’t working and finding a way to resolve it in some way

* It helps me to see the world with new and curious eyes, it brings more wonder and awe into my life

* I relish the sensory pleasure, the materials, the tactile nature of art supplies and paper

* It brings joy, colour and pattern into my life

* It helps me to respond to and interpret my interior world and the world around me

* I notice more, pay more attention to details and become more fascinated by random and unexpected beauty

* I uncover, discover and explore my interests and come up with new ones

* I enjoy the learning and the development, trying new things, exploring new techniques, the sense of possibility

* It is a way to find myself, express myself and be myself

* It feels nourishing and good for my soul and wellbeing

* Art making helps me to connect to myself and the world around me

* It is a way to understand who I am and what I am interested in. My art is my response to being in the world. It is an ongoing conversation with myself which unfurls and develops…

Where do you work?

I am very lucky to have two rooms at the top of our house in Hastings. I’ve painted the walls and floor white to maximize the light. Having painted wooden floors also means I can roll back the rugs and make a real mess without any worries. I love rugs and have them everywhere, bright bursts of colour and pattern that sing to me. So, although the walls and floor of my space are white, the space is far from minimalist.

I love collecting weird and wonderful objects and picking up old or unusual objects in junk shops. My place is scattered with old tins, patterned ceramics, pebbles from the beach, old books and interesting textiles.

The house is half way up a hill, so one of the rooms has an amazing view of the town and sky. I just love this view and find the ever changing colours and patterns of the clouds a great inspiration. Having two rooms, means I can move around depending on the time of day – leave artworks to dry, whilst packing others.

Where do you seek inspiration?

Sometimes being an artist is like being a visual adventurer. I am always on the lookout for colours, patterns, tiny inspirations that I can collect, expand upon and use in my paintings. Sometimes these come through active searching, I might take a walk on the beach or in nature to actively seek-out some inspiration, looking at the details of plants and the shapes of the leaves, patterns on pebbles, or the way the water creates lines in the sand.

What art materials do you use?

I love to mix art supplies and mix mediums. I like to experiment, explore and combine different art materials to create layers of interest and variety. I am always trying out new mixes and combinations to see what resonates with me. I love watercolour with fine-liner pen. Acrylic paint with photocopies. White ink pen over black ink. I enjoy using unexpected art making tools such as twigs or pieces of discarded ephemera.

When and where were you born?

I was born in London in 1975.