I have always painted and drawn the world around me, from observation. I like to try to capture the light and weather conditions, and I will either paint the view out of my window or a window from a building in London or I go out with a portable easel. The places I’m drawn to are either places I’ve passed or spent time in, in my 61 years of living in London or sometimes I’m commissioned to paint somewhere and then I discover new places. I love the colours and textures of London brickwork and pavements and I like to focus in on what I see and get really involved in the details, I feel I want to tell the whole story and paint even the bins in the parks and the satellite dishes on the rooftops. This last year has been so unique, I enjoyed the challenge of having to be inside and indulging my love of my view out of the window and then when I could go out I went to some places that I’d always wanted to paint but felt the traffic of people would make it to difficult, but this year the streets were more deserted. When I’m outside painting I go into a reverie of memories of childhood and think about the history of a place. If I put people or dogs into my street scenes they are usually my own two adult children and my dog Joey.I use very small brushes but lots of paint and my heroes are Van Gogh, Stanley Spencer and Carel Weight.

Spring Flourish exhibition May 2022

“I was really pleased when Mary asked me to be in this group show and I felt really enthusiastic when I learned the title of the exhibition’Spring Flourish’. It was just at the beginning of early summer and I really felt that new life was beginning because of the birth of my beautiful Grandson and because things were feeling much more positive for everyone with all the vaccines and the new sense of freedom.”