A quiet introspective person, I am fascinated by nature: human nature
(our stories, experiences, and emotions) and more widely our world (the
colours, wildlife and plants). Working with locally grown flowers, I
create carefully composed minimal arrangements, inspired by the art of
Ikebana.
But my paintings are about so much more than flowers: it is through the
motif of flowers that I find raw human emotion: fragility, resilience,
tragedy, joy and life. I always find myself reflected there, sometimes
strong, sometimes fragile. Working in oils I paint the carefully composed
arrangements, building a story through negative spaces, forms, colours
and texture.
Full of contradictions, my work is just like life. Joyous, but sad – like a
wonderful memory of a now absent parent. Pain and suffering are as
much a part of our human experience as the joy we experience, but teach
us so much if we are willing to look. Those memories that haunt us – our
fears, hopes, and dreams – come with us throughout our life. Like a
shadow, they are always with us, influencing who we are and what we do.
These dark shadows have their own beauty, mystery and intrigue, but
within my work they also represent our ‘darker self’. There are as many
things to discover in the darkness as there are in the light.