The Old Coach House
Fore street
Winkleigh
EX19 8HQ
My career has explored many subjects and mediums, but over the last five years, I have worked almost exclusively with charcoal on a large scale, using plants and flowers as my resource material.
By exploring their fascinating forms, I have recognised an unbelievable wealth of subject matter an incredible world of strength and beauty. As the scale of the drawings increased the presence of the plants took on a bold and statuesque existence.
But now I am returning to colour. The subject matter is still taken from the flower garden and hedgerow but I am choosing flowers which have a strength of colour over form. The physicality of the brush mark and the strong blocks of neighbouring colours, are testament to the joy of returning to oil paint.
I am also exploring the possibilities of using colour fields to engage with the drawn image. By using hand-painted collage, I am able to introduce colour without disturbing the fragile nature of the charcoal.
The collage pieces are painted very vigorously so that the brush marks are evident and parallel the spontaneous way in which I use charcoal on paper, and the way, I use paint on wood panel.
