Artist's Statement

I feel connected through art with my past. My grandfather painted all of his life; as a minister he did sketches and paintings everywhere he went, and his children, my mother and my uncle, were involved in sketching and painting in their youth. My mother returned to her artwork later in her life, and enjoyed and took pride in doing so. It seems natural for me to pick up a brush at this time, and carry on what they began.

What has always interested me, whether it is using words or paint, is elevating the commonplace to be special, and celebrated. A mist-filled mountain pass, the fall colours in the foothills, a group of settled ducks at evening , a village woman making bread - these things please me and I hope they please the viewer. I see a connectedness between the world of nature and the world of humans which, in our busy lives, is often lost or misplaced; I hope through my art to recapture some of those connected moments.

I paint in watercolours, generally in fairly broad sweeps and strokes. My intention is to carve the piece - the landscape, the floral design, the human figure or wildlife pose - onto the paper or canvas in such a way that I capture the living essence of the scene at that moment. My painting is deliberately expressive, and I use colour, value and texture to create a sense of movement and energy in my work.

Through visual art I find an important way of connecting with others, although these connections, I find, are similar to the ones which I found through poetry. I hope that I will continue to find new ways to bring meaning and feeling through these art forms as old as the paintings on the walls of caves, and the words recited around the warming fire.