Towards the end of a career in corporate treasury in the UK, and building on a life-long interest in art, art history, architecture, crafts, interior design and related subjects, I started formal art education culminating in going to Wolverhampton School of Art at the age of 60. Since that time I have been Artist in Residence at Bede’s School, Eastbourne (2013), held a number of solo shows in the UK, and been in many group, open / juried or curated exhibitions in the UK and overseas including the Print Internationals 2019 and 2021 in Wrexham.

My studies, both before, during and after college, have covered many media and techniques and I continue to expand my skill base and to explore ways of combining them to produce mixed media multi-disciplined work (2D and 3D), all of which is reflected in the diversity of my artistic practice. Almost invariably my own photographs (either digital or 35mm black and white film) provide the source material.

My work addresses the relationships between 2D and 3D, negative and positive, figuration and abstraction combined with structure and tone. An underlying concept is that of optical illusion – taking an image, dissecting it, and then putting it back together in a distorted manner.

Indeed structure (whether natural or man-made) is currently a dominant theme as demonstrated by my working on two large bodies of work (Trees & Roots and Lines) in parallel. The former looks specifically at a combination of form, structure, and surface texture in relation to trees but even more specifically, although not exclusively, trees with externalized / above ground (and even aerial) roots. Whereas the latter looks at specific architects / buildings referencing (variously) shards and exploded architectural drawings.

This idea of optical illusion – reorienting images, breaking them up, distorting them combined with the use of shadows, reflections and/or repetition is particularly relevant when considering architecture and is also well suited to the process of screenprinting (breaking the image down into layers and then reconstructing it). A lot of the works in both Trees & Roots and Lines are hand-pulled screenprints using a combination of stencil, hand and photographic positives together with unusual printing materials such as graphite, varnish and charcoal and sometimes incorporating woodcuts.

I recently finished a set of three screenprints about ash die-back on the South Downs (Trees & Roots XXI), am currently doing a few screen monoprints before going back to Lines.