Artist's Statement

Since graduating in 1995 I have spent my time as an artist working in the North York Moors and the North Pennine regions of County Durham. I am now based outside of the market town of Easingwold, just north of York.

I come from a largely agricultural background. As a painter working with the landscape I am constantly challenged to create work which acknowledges the romantic splendour of the Northern landscape, whilst at the same time being conscious that my work is rooted in the daily practicalities of rural life. As a result my work can take many forms - currently I am finding that my work is falling loosely into two categories:

Landscape paintings, in watercolour and pastel or oil, made both 'on site' or back at the studio.

'Drawings', personal and subjective investigations into my environment using mixed media, normally more abstract in nature.

My drawings are not only a response to the visual but also represent an attempt to convey the subjective element in the perception and whole experience of my environment.

I believe that every individual has the potential to impose something different and unique on what he or she sees. In this way contemporary landscape painting can give me the freedom to express not only the literal but also allows me to acknowledge pasts, presents and futures both real and projected, documented, or dreamed.

The immediacy and versatility allowed by the drawing process offers me the freedom and speed to concentrate on developing an essential language and understanding of what I perceive to constitute 'place'. Some drawings have concentrated on developing a mark making system to reflect the unusual complexity of an area of land, while in others I have chosen to systematically build up layers and then remove them in order to mirror the physical processes at work in the landscape. Resulting works incorporate literal signs such a telegraph pole, pylon or landmark, while others give no indication of scale or orientation.