Artist Statement
My work has always been autobiographical but in an informal way. I process the events in my life by making paintings, not in an illustrative way but exploring an emotion, feeling or event. The paintings play out the chronicles of my life; the loves, the losses, the tragedies, the passing of time and all of the challenges along the way. I like to use objects and plant forms as visual props for a narrative that drives the image making, this narrative is never disclosed but only suggested by the titles.
There is a domestic feel to the work and the choice of objects often comes directly from my environment and have a personal resonance with a particular time or place. The props retain an underlying sense of their original function but are usually playing out a drama that can then be applicable to a variety of meanings, intended or accidental. There is a visual balance between representation and abstract mark-making and this is what excites me, in the outcome it is often the representation that dominates but I am constantly striving to bring it back to the more abstract and essential elements of the mark-making, composition and colour.