BIOGRAPHY

This is Me

I remember as a child being creative, driving my parent’s crazy asking ‘’When can I paint’’ ‘’can I help you to bake’’ anything artistic I would want to join in, always searching for satisfaction from being
innovative. I was never any good at drawing, I’m still not but I loved colour, bolder brighter the better, you will still see this in my work today, I don’t shy away from colour. I qualified as a hairdresser in 1983 and a successful career in the hairdressing business began, being creative is what I loved and excelled at, a potter works with clay and artist works with paint a hairdresser works with hair and this I did until 1997, I entered an iconic TV cookery competition
which spun my creativity in another direction. I entered the TV BBC MasterChef competition and was fortunate to compete in the final, soon after I opened my own high end catering company soon to expand with a café and bistro, Prickly Pear. Throughout my career journey I was painting in the background, I always had a paining on the easel and a new canvas in waiting. With no formal art education, I continued to learn and over the years I have built my style, that said I have different types of painting genre, I feel one should have diversity, why paint in one style, be creative work out of your comfort style, try a new technique, use different materials it might just work. I have learned to elevate my work by incorporating collage elements, pages from old books, old and new photographs, materials such as silk, tartan and denim has been included into my paintings. I am often asked for me to paint literal but like I said earlier on I am not a literal artist I work in shape and colour but what I can do and have done is to paint a family portrait or a painting of a place or town using collage merged with my abstract style I can create a personal painting ‘’portrait’’. Every day is different in my studio, one day I could be painting a personal commission painting, the next I could be working on a very large corporate painting or designing a cover for a book. My inspiration is life there are so many similes between the process of painting and life in general,
unpredictability the unknown etc…., I also rely on the Universe to guide me in my painting, and to this day the Universe has never let me down. ‘’Nothing ventured nothing gained!’’

Galleries and shows

South Shields open call 2021
Newcastle The Big Show 2022 2023
Northern Summer Exhibition 2023
Northeast Art Collective 2021 until closing 2024
Luxe Magazine feature Sep-Oct 2022 issue 77
No 1 Kirkharle, Kirkharle Northumberland

Corporate commissions and events

Red Sky Foundation charity ball
M The Galleries 50th celebration commission 2024
Newcastle Building Society Limited edition paying in book design 2025.

Drop me a line ………

Drop me an email I would love to hear from you.