I was born in 1965 and have lived most of my life in Cornwall, surrounded by wildlife and stunning countryside. I have been interested in nature for as long as I can remember and drew my first bird (so I’m told!), aged 4, a Yellowhammer, probably copied from the Observers’ book of Birds. 

 

I went to Falmouth School of Art and then to Blackpool for a degree in scientific illustration and, for the next 25 years, illustrated a wide range of books - from field guides to children’s 

encyclopedias. As much as I enjoyed illustrating, I’m glad to say that I paint solely to exhibit in galleries. 

 

I work from a studio at The Old Bakery in Truro, an amazing converted riverside warehouse with a great community of creative people and lots of dogs! In recent years I have moved my focus away from birds towards landscape, painting the Cornish coast and the vastness of Norfolk’s saltmarshes and dunes. I am really enjoying the challenges and freedoms this change has given me. 

 

I love to work outside, watching, drawing and recording what I see and experience. I then take my sketchbook back to the studio where I start to abstract shapes and experiment with colour and line, usually in oils over a textured surface.

 

I am a member of the SWLA and have paintings in the permanent collections of the 

Royal Cornwall Museum and Cambridge University.