I am a versatile artist who paints mostly in oils, watercolours and soft pastels, using a varied palette of colours depending on what the subject suggests to me at the time.
I am particularly attracted to natural still-life objects such as feathers, pebbles, Autumn leaves and shells so have amassed a large collection in my studio. I also love painting landscapes and seascapes with dramatic skies.
In addition, I enjoy trying new media and have learned the basics of encaustic wax painting, mosaic making, stained glass and painting on silk.
I have drawn and painted all my life and at 16 gained an A-level in Art two years early. Although I did not pursue a creative career at the time, I continued to attend evening art classes.
Many of my paintings are for sale and I always feel proud when someone wants to buy my work.
Since 2004 have been teaching a few groups of mainly retired people to draw and paint and find this to be immensely rewarding.
I enjoy visiting galleries and exhibitions and spend many absorbing hours reading art magazines and books; there is always so much more to learn. I am particularly inspired by British contemporary artists Kurt Jackson, Shirley Trevena, David Parfitt and Anne Blockley. They all seem to be able to work magic by achieving semi-abstracts with their chosen media that just fill me with awe.
On Wednesday 5 March, I ran a free in-house art workshop at Chilcompton Art Club where I normally paint for myself. Occasionally some members offer to do a free workshop and on this occasion I offered “How to Paint a Picture in the style of Australian Indigenous Art. I took in lots of inspirational photographs featuring the typical dot paintings and other styles. Members could use acrylics, gouache or saturated watercolours to create their own designs on black card in any colours they wished. I also gave them instruction sheets, a page of typical symbols and I read to them while they worked, explaining more about the background to the aboriginal art story.
On Thursday 27 March I attended an enjoyable six-hour workshop at The West Barn in Bradford on Avon taught by Melissa Wishart. The subject was Painting Light on Water in oils or acrylics. I was quite pleased with my two seascape canvases in oils but felt they needed something extra such as a few birds or a yacht. As I was using oils I was unable to add the fine details until the paintings are dry . . . and when I can make time!
At our OBA Annual General Meeting in the evening of the same day, 27 March, I was pleased to hear that four of my paintings have sold at Ammerdown Retreat Centre since Christmas. Once was in soft pastels, two were in oils and one in watercolours.
Over the past three weeks, I have sold two more paintings at Ammerdown Retreat Centre in Somerset. Both were loose, expressive semi-abstract oils on unframed canvas.
In addition to the two regular weekly art classes I teach, I was pleased to be invited recently to teach some workshops at local art groups. Two were at Southstoke Art Group on line and wash; the other was at Kilmersdon Art Group exploring how to create an interesting picture in white on black from side-lit photos using white pastels on black paper.
Old Bakery Artists 