I guess I feel as though making art is my highest contribution and my legacy. I will not leave behind a treasure trove worthy of a dragon, but through my work there will, evermore, be an essence, a vestige of me present in the room for those who wish it so. A communication I delivered that resonated with someone who had maybe made a similar observation, or felt a certain way, but had no means to express.

It is also self-care of the highest order for someone like me.

My work through the pandemic feels, to me, akin to when someone places a blanket on your shoulders as a way of saying ‘I cant really fix things but I can offer this little gesture of kindness because I see you’re hurting’.

I set out to express something to the world that is personal, simple, beautiful and meaningful.

I have access to a method of communication most people do not. My voice is not reliant on language in order to be heard and understood. The language of the non representational artist is universal, requiring nothing more than engagement from the viewer.

People needn’t worry about ‘getting it’; there is nothing to get.

Only something to bring. An open mind and an awareness of feelings whatever they may be.

I hope to produce something evocative so that my own intentions have less to do with the way the work lands than what the viewer offers to the work, from their own lived experience of the world.

I set the stage, arrange the players and in the end, ‘the play’s the thing’, mine being only one interpretation of countless valid ‘takes’ on the world.

If I have succeeded, these paintings will not confront, but rather engage the viewer. Should that viewer choose to live with one, I trust that the piece will be a calming, compelling and ever changing companion with a quiet but insistent voice.

I am a process painter. I typically work in series, fascinated, maybe obsessed, by the way a group of work can amplify each other and reveal nuances, refinements in technique. I love a collection, of almost anything really.

I develop and explore formats. I am innovative in terms of material usage, tools, problem solving and utilizing crossover skill sets from various visual art disciplines.

I create opportunities for surprises by breaking rules and trusting in my ability to react in the moment.

My work is often propelled forward and along a fresh path by an addition of something new in studio, a colour, tool, a jig, a material, a technique to hone.

Always, I am concerned with a high level of execution and craftsmanship. I paint with intention and every step, every move I make is considered. I try at points in the development of each piece to relinquish some control to allow materials their voice. We must always leave room for magic.

I am there in the moment to trust, observe and learn. The lid of my toolbox is always open.n text goes here

As a kid I loved to smash rocks open. The surface always hinted at something more, something deep inside informing the outward appearance, responsible for the ‘skin’

I am curious about people for the same reason…depth and lived experiences, scars, expressions, ‘tells’

What matters most is what we carry inside, at the heart of the matter, because we wear our insides on the outside to some degree…sometimes in the subtlest ways.

My observation then is that we make our way through the world kind of inside out, our ‘skin’ adapting to the environment as we weather the days, years and decades to obscure or conceal the rawness, even the beauty, we carry at our core.

In my work I address this fascination with genesis and journey, by deliberately allowing the surface treatment to spill over the edges.

This helps to blur the line between painting and object, challenging the containment issue inherent in a shaped canvas, as well as tipping my cards in terms of showing how the piece has been layered to create a kind of ‘skin’

The edges, in comparison to the surface, beg the question, ‘how did this become that?’

There is also a seductive ‘foodie’ kind of vibe at work in the way the material oozes and flows in its chosen path. I mean, I love cooking and baking too! I think with my hands

You will find me on the edge of most things; a room, a meeting, a party, a cliff, a balcony, a conversation…because this is where the interest lies, on the periphery. And, if you like to observe, this is also the best vantage point, out of the fray but privy to the big picture, the vista, the holistic view

Many people in my life I would describe as ‘edge walkers’. Not quite this or that, atypical, unique, eccentric, quirky, flawed, acerbic, funny. They are an endless fascination and my greatest treasures. My ‘tribe’.