browse the tactile pages of my inspirational sketchbooks and field trip journals to discover more about the research and narrative behind the work, how I observe, gather and record compiling invaluable resources for my studio library

artist statement

My hand stitched tactile paintings draw their inspiration from the muted palette of northern coastal landscapes, the constantly changing light and repetitive rhythms of nature.  Returning to familiar places to witness changing weather patterns and their effects on the local coastline, my work endeavours to raise an awareness of the rising global tides and consequential storm surges that are eroding our fragile coastal horizons.

With an itinerant childhood and enquiring mind maps geography and geology inform my work.  Field trips are integral to my research experiencing the elements first hand, wind, rain, the blurred horizonal lines as the sea merges with the vastness of the sky. It is the light atmosphere and emptiness I strive to capture.

Solitary walking is fundamental to my creativity, observing, gathering and recording colour, texture, lines that create my visual language, these sketchbook observations are an invaluable studio resource that manifest themselves in the narrative of my abstract textile artwork.

Painting ground earth pigments blended in a homemade soya milk binder the painterliness is further enhanced by my use of vintage linen and hemp, old cloth that has an existing patina such as worn uneven areas, patching, fraying, holes or seams that take up the pigments differently enriching the textural qualities of the surface. Slowly building up layers I create the essence of place, the mediative hand stitching becomes a metaphor for the repetitive rhythms of nature that forms texture and undulations like you find on the earth’s surface.