about

I make oil paintings, drawings, prints, greetings cards, poetry and music.

My paintings are an exploration into the place between the physical and my feeling of that thing. A translation of my experience of the world, and an incantation of the invisible things that are felt by the heart more than seen by the eyes. Rooted here, in my home in the Saddleworth hills, they depict my world, making sense of our place here, between the eternal and the everyday.

I take inspiration from stopping to notice; glimpses of how the glare separates into white beams as you squint towards the sun, or the magic of the light reflecting off of all the green at the river, or the beautiful white glow that comes when you are tired at dusk. The abstract colours and shapes that make up our world.

In using oil paint, a slowness is imposed on the process. There is something about slowing down to this meditative state that lets the work reveal itself.

I am currently painting a new series, glimpses of everyday life and light and people and places and plants, painted on rubbish found on the floor. I have run, for the last twelve years, a sustainable greetings card company (click here to see), illustrating a range of original designs on recycled card and selling them in shops all over. I have worked on many collaborative and community art projects, and I have exhibited my work at various venues around the UK.

I spent ten years singing and playing guitar in my band Hotpants Romance, releasing two albums in the UK and USA, playing gigs in charity shops, schools, and the Sheila's Wheels cadillac, and touring internationally.

I have a First Class degree in Interactive Arts from the Manchester Met University, and I spent three years, co-creating Islington Art Academy, a free, artist-led, art school in Salford.

I run occasional group art sessions, and grow things at my allotment, and I am currently recording an album of new songs about love and loss and the strangeness of being alive. If you’d like me to play at your gig or exhibition get in touch!