Explore and read about my collections.
Impermanence, Vocal Solace, Resonance, Intuituve Drift, Raw Edges, Flourishing, Spring from Winter
All paintings and collages in each collection can be viewed in the Paintings section.
IMPERMANENCE : exploring the constantly changing nature of what is regarded as reality
These paintings explore impermanence as a lived, perceptual experience rather than an abstract concept. Through layered grids, shifting geometries, repeated marks and moments of interruption, the works reflect how attention moves and how the mind has the capacity to organise, dissolve and reorganise what it sees.
Influenced by Buddhist teachings on impermanence and interbeing, particularly those of the late Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, the paintings resist fixed viewpoints. Structure appears, softens, fragments and re-forms. Grids suggest order, but never permanence. Colour behaves like breath, arriving and passing. Marks function as traces rather than statements.
Several works engage directly with perception itself: optical flow, depth, limitation, and threshold moments, where seeing is incomplete yet alive. Others attend to quieter forms of impermanence: repetition, accumulation, daily noticing, and the practice of staying present with what changes.
These works invite slow looking, not to resolve meaning but to gently inhabit uncertainty. They recognise that nothing stands alone and nothing stays forever.
VOCAL SOLACE
The development of this series of paintings was part of a healing process following a traumatic life experience. They are inspired by the classical songs of the early twentieth- century English composer, Frank Bridge. Bridge’s songs were formative pieces for me while I trained to become a professional singer.
I wanted to express, in paint, the emotions I felt while listening to the songs. They seemed to be seeking spiritual consolation, something for which I was also searching.
The paintings are subdued, tender, and fragile works that helped me commit to and accept my shifting identities. They showed me that incredible growth can come from difficult challenges.
The titles are lines from the poems that resonated with both me and the finished paintings.
RESONANCE
The paintings in this series are my emotional response to operatic music that deeply resonates with me and which I performed throughout my career as a professional classical singer.
They are inspired by some of the great operatic works of Handel, Purcell, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Wagner.
They are mostly semi-abstract/abstract expressions of my response to melody, lyricism, rhythm, character, plot, atmosphere, emotion, vocal tension, orchestration and my muscle memory of performance.
INTUITIVE DRIFT
Observation and measurement. The physical, scientific world. They have advanced civilisation at a remarkable pace.
But what about the non-physical aspects of ourselves, those things that can’t be observed or measured?
These paintings consider the nature of the intuitive soul. How, if we choose to listen, our intuition may reveal things in non-physical form that are unforeseeable or without reason.
RAW EDGES
These paintings explore different aspects of what an edge is: the border, brim or margin of a surface or object; the place or line where something stops or something new is about to happen; the boundaries that edges create; what requires definition at the edges of language and conversation; what waits to be unveiled at the limits and thresholds of life.
Look into the heart of these paintings – can you see the reflection of your raw edges?
FLOURISHING
These abstract collages were started during a motorhome travel adventure through Bavaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and along a section of the Rhine. This trip came after two years of uncertainty following a life changing experience. It was the first time that I really felt my confidence returning as I took to the hills and roads by foot and on bike. Joy returned to my life and I was flourishing once more!
I used collage papers, made in my studio, and ephemera I collected along the way. The many layers, colours, shapes and marks truly reflect the feelings and emotions I experienced on my journey. I never have an expected outcome for my artworks but I can see the influence of magnificent mountains, sparkling emerald and turquoise rivers, summer skies, ancient edifices, baroque and gothic interiors, great food and wine and so much more.
SPRING FROM WINTER
The idea for these small abstract collages emerged from the decision to do a motorhome tour of southern Spain in March 2024.
Collaging is perfect for travelling. It requires papers, pens, pencils, scissors, glue and substrates, all of which fit neatly into a travel box. Plus, there’s no paint for me to spill on the furniture….
I made a varied collection of papers using acrylic paints and various application techniques during the cold winter months in my studio, the Creative Cave, in the Scottish Highlands.
I used lots of warm, bright, vibrant colours against the backdrop of long nights, grey, wet, cold days and a few snowstorms.
The collages are snapshots of my emotional response to the trip and they sing of the joy, beauty, history, culture, warmth, novelty, discovery, and absolute pleasure that I encountered.
