In this section of the site, I like to share photos of my work as I make progress. When I finish a piece I post the finished image in 'Painting/Drawing'. If its not posted there yet, its not yet finished! I have several paintings on the go at once at the moment, and upload every time I add to them- so I encourage you to check back regularly to be part of the continuous changes!
Rosie Portrait July 2014
Submission for Alchemy Festival
Archie June 2014
'Sea Sound' started March 4th 2014
'To Listen' started Nov 2013
'Banyan Tree Sees' started January 2014
'Wild Show' (started 2010/11 and working on it again 2014)
'Cosmic Apple' started December 2013
'Folding' from November 2013
'Full Flight' 2013
This painting started with me finding a rabbit skeleton and finding inspiration in the shapes of the bones and how they fit together. Then the painting took a life of its own and developed instinctively. This new painting is the beginning of a series I am creating over the next few months for an exhibition at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital next year. Date has yet to be confirmed.
GoGoGorillas! Norwich 2013
After entering some designs to the GoGoGorillas project many months ago, I was fortunate to have been chosen by Gasway and the Acteon Group to paint designs onto two GoGoGorillas for this Summer 2013! Below shows the process in photos. The first is titled 'Catch Me While You Can', and the second is 'Killing Fields'. See below for more information about the ideas behind the designs.
The Ideas Behind the Gorilla Designs
My ‘Catch Me While You Can’ design is a pattern of Planthoppers, known as Lantern Flies. They are superficially like a moth or butterfly but actually closer related to a cicada. Lantern flies don’t receive the public recognition or admiration that butterflies do, and I’m very happy to get the chance to spread their fame just a bit!
‘Killing Fields’ is a view of agricultural fields from the air, with jungle around the feet.
With both ‘Catch Me While You Can’ and ‘Killing Fields’ I wanted to make designs that looked beautiful, but on the flip side made a reference to the threat of extinction to so many of the Earth’s species, gorillas included. Animals all over the world face the destruction of their habitats as humans deforest to make way for continuous sprawling agriculture, which is simply devastating to the natural ecosystems. I’d particularly like to draw attention to the large-scale mono cropping of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in South America by very big and powerful companies, and urge people to check where their food comes from and do some research about the patenting of seeds, cross pollination, not labelling GMOs, and the toxic pesticides required to grow these crops.
Last month, protesters in 436 cities across the world marched against GMO, including in Parliament Square in London. Here’s an article from the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/26/millions-march-against-monsanto
I lived on the island of Kauai, Hawaii for 5 months last year and was told that there is testing of some of the most toxic chemicals there to see its effects before being used commercially. Here is an article about it http://www.civilbeat.com/voices/2013/04/12/18777-kauai-pesticide-concerns-well-founded/. Earlier this year there was a protest on Kauai (led by the volunteer organisation GMO-Free Kauai and Hawaii SEED) against this guinea pig like testing on their sacred land and the people living there. Kauai is half the size of Norfolk. Its coral is dying and bird species are disappearing.
Our species has the capabilities, intelligence and technology to change this whole world for the benefit of every living thing. Awareness is spreading, and I’m hopeful that we will turn it around!
‘Killing Fields’ is a view of agricultural fields from the air, with jungle around the feet.
With both ‘Catch Me While You Can’ and ‘Killing Fields’ I wanted to make designs that looked beautiful, but on the flip side made a reference to the threat of extinction to so many of the Earth’s species, gorillas included. Animals all over the world face the destruction of their habitats as humans deforest to make way for continuous sprawling agriculture, which is simply devastating to the natural ecosystems. I’d particularly like to draw attention to the large-scale mono cropping of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in South America by very big and powerful companies, and urge people to check where their food comes from and do some research about the patenting of seeds, cross pollination, not labelling GMOs, and the toxic pesticides required to grow these crops.
Last month, protesters in 436 cities across the world marched against GMO, including in Parliament Square in London. Here’s an article from the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/26/millions-march-against-monsanto
I lived on the island of Kauai, Hawaii for 5 months last year and was told that there is testing of some of the most toxic chemicals there to see its effects before being used commercially. Here is an article about it http://www.civilbeat.com/voices/2013/04/12/18777-kauai-pesticide-concerns-well-founded/. Earlier this year there was a protest on Kauai (led by the volunteer organisation GMO-Free Kauai and Hawaii SEED) against this guinea pig like testing on their sacred land and the people living there. Kauai is half the size of Norfolk. Its coral is dying and bird species are disappearing.
Our species has the capabilities, intelligence and technology to change this whole world for the benefit of every living thing. Awareness is spreading, and I’m hopeful that we will turn it around!
Hand Study with a twist, June 2011 3ft by 4ft
I have recently been attending some sessions of sculpting with a life model, and have been inspired to bring the human form back into my work. I've always found hands to be so beautiful, complex, and fascinating, so in this work I am studying them many times at various angles. I'm not entirely sure where this painting will go, but thats half the fun of it!
Topography
A painting in acrylics, yet to be completed, inspired by satellite photographs of the earth's surface highlighting its topography and variation in minerals/rock types etc. I am very interested in the fractal quality of these kinds of images, where mountains mimic cells and rivers mimic veins. It evokes vision of the world that's like a giant organism.
Kitchen Wall mural currently in progress
Mural on a kitchen wall. This is a very improvisational piece, and I am yet to complete it.
Mandala 2010. 5ft in diameter
Above you can see the progression of my mandala painting for my final degree show. It's a heavy painting that is 5 feet in diameter, and I had a few complications with the mechanism on the back that enables the viewer to spin the painting. This is crucial to the piece, as it was essential that the viewer had an active exchange with the work. I used imagery inspired by insects because of their evolutionary inginuity to suit their environments, and their unbelievable beauty. When the painting was up, I made a half circle mandala with various natural tones of sand on the floor underneath it, so that you had to stand in it to turn the painting. In this action, the viewer effected the sand where they stepped. I wanted the viewer to consider the way they were stepping on the sand. If they were trying not to ruin it, I wanted them to relate this to the way they 'step on' the natural environment. The movement of the painting was also essential, as I was relating the act of turning with the movement of life, the impermanency of exsistence. As I have said in my statement on the About the Artist page, I want to question the idea of physical seperateness. If the constituents of our physical being are constantly moving and exchanging, where does the body end and the environment begin?