'Revival' - A2Arts, Bildeston​

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When my mother passed away ten years ago, it was a time of mourning and a time of 'becoming'. It was then that I set about turning my dream of becoming an artist into a reality. There were two tutors who made that dream possible. The first was Romantic Impressionist painter and tutor Hugo Grenville, who I met on a masterclass in Suffolk in the June of 2019 and the second was Martin Kinnear at the Norfolk Painting School with whom I undertook a year-long diploma course learning the nuts and bolts of oil-painting. Both of them taught me how to paint with vigour and expression and helped to free me from the tyranny of representation. Through the medium of flowers, I eventually found my escape discovering that successful picture-making resulted not in slavishly recounting the intimate details but in creating exciting contrasts and harmonies of colour, pattern, texture, form and tone. ​'Revival' celebrates not only the coming of spring but a personal rebirth - the finding of myself as a painter. The exhibition runs for two weekends in May and one weekend in June (in conjunction with Suffolk Open Studios) and takes place at A2Arts, otherwise known as Silwood Barns which is a beautiful, light-filled gallery nestled behind the market square in Bildeston, Suffolk. Besides framed pieces, browser work will be on sale too, as well as my greetings cards and my daughter's whose delightful, upbeat designs are full of the joys of spring. Included also will be a couple of charcoals by my son.

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Inspired by Benton End 2025​

In Autumn 2024 I teamed up with seven local artist friends and began visiting the house and gardens of Benton End, Hadleigh - the place that was formerly the home of Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines and known as the East Anglian School of painting and Drawing. Calling ourselves the 'Inspired by Benton End Artists', we were the first group of professional creatives in forty years to be given independent access to the house to paint, research and collaborate - and on the 12th and 13th April our studies, from paintings and ceramics to sketchbooks and journals, went on show at Hadleigh Old School.   

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Of all the old masters, I can think of few who mastered the art of flower-painting as successfully as Cedric and so, as a flower painter myself, I feel truly blessed to have the legacy of Benton End here in Hadleigh. The idea of the artist/plantsman is also the dream for me. In the Summer months I divide my time between painting and gardening and, as well as tending to my own small garden, assist others in theirs. I prefer working from life over photographs and, now that my confidence as a plein air painter has grown, relish pitching an easel in my own or other people's gardens and capturing my impressions on large panels before polishing them off back at home.