artist statement

Coastal landscape, northern light, human marks that map the land, repetitive rhythms of nature, provide endless inspiration.  I paint and hand stitch on cloth slowly building up layers creating the narrative of place using the muted palette of natural earth pigments.

With an itinerant childhood and enquiring mind maps geography and geology inform my work. Field trips are integral to my research, returning to familiar places to witness the effects of changing weather patterns on the environment.  Drawn to coastal landscapes I endeavour to raise awareness of the connectivity between global oceans, rising tides and the erosion of our fragile coastal horizons. 

Solitary walking is fundamental to my creativity, observing, gathering and recording, making colour studies to capture the changing light I take that focus back into the studio. Curiosity and experimentation drive my exploratory work, adapting fine art techniques using locally sourced natural materials to create a visual language, my collection of observational sketchbooks is an invaluable studio resource. 

Mediative hand stitching is drawing with thread, expressive marks that add colour movement, shading, drawn from my library of adapted traditional stitch techniques. The slow repetition of hand stitching becomes a metaphor for the repetitive rhythms of nature that forms texture and undulations like you find on the earth’s surface.