When I make art, I want to capture the shapes, colours, and tones that are created when the light hits the subject. I work mainly from life, so I have to be quick when I work as everything changes so rapidly.
Whilst I have tried other mediums, I have settled on oils and pastels as suiting me best; with both I can create layers of colour.
My artistic journey
An unconventional educational path
I graduated from Manchester Polytechnic in the summer of 1976 with a first-class degree, with distinction in Audio Visual Graphics.
I studied Costume Design for Film and Television, a course they didn’t do at Manchester, so I had to tell my tutors what I thought I needed to know! I also (reluctantly) learned about cameras, cables, sound, and studios.
I designed costumes for various student productions and made large-scale puppets, for a production that one of my fellow students had written.
Balancing career and family
The puppets stood me in good stead - I got some work making stilt walkers heads for the BBC production of Dicken’s “The Old Curiosity Shop”.
Time passed and I decided I ought to do something “sensible”, so I trained in retail management with C&A Modes. I worked for them for several years, transferring to Cambridge and John Lewis on marriage.
With the arrival of children (I was of the generation that gave up full-time work) I revived my contacts at the BBC and was asked to make 60 headdresses for a production of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, which I could research and make at home.
I continued to make my home and family my priority but was always heavily involved with school: plays, cooking, reading, etc.
During this time, I also managed to train as a restorer of porcelain.
A lifelong learner
After many years spent looking after my home and the people in it, I decided that wanted to learn Fine Art !
My son recommended the father of someone who he was studying music with in Cambridge, who was an excellent tutor!
So here I am …
