Press release

'High Heather'
​2018
Acrylic
​760 x 760mm

​(now sold)

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​What has been your artistic journey?
My training was not as a painter but as a ceramicist. I spent a few short years working in clay and developing my ideas; then our young family came along. When I eventually returned to art it was in the role of art technician and then art tutor within further and adult education. From there I slowly started making my own work... this time paintings. After several studio moves in and around Hebden Bridge, having my own small retail and workspace by the canal was an unexpected and happy turn of events.

'Into the Light'
​2018
Acrylic
​440 x 440mm

​(now sold)

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Where did you train?
I went to college in Staffordshire. My course was Multidisciplinary Design and, for two out of the three years of my time there, I was absorbed by hand-built and raku fired clay forms. After finishing my degree, I made and sold my vessels in local shops and galleries in Chelmsford and Hemel Hempstead. Alongside this I worked as a ceramics tutor with a group of young disadvantaged people.
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'Staithes II'
2018
Acrylic
​500 x 500mm

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Describe your creative process
My work is often a construct from memories and observations gathered from my sketchbooks or photographs rather than a literal depiction of a 'real' landscape. Fear plays a part in my process; the uneasy start to a painting when addressing the white of the canvas and then, once started, the following fear of messing up. I like to add collage elements in the form of printed matter and fabric scraps.
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'Swell'
2018
Acrylic
​700 x 800mm
​
​SOLD

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What inspires you?
I am inspired by the land, the weather that surrounds me and by objects that carry associations and personal meaning.
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'Bronze Forest'
2018
Acrylic
​560 x 500mm

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​What is your exhibition about?
My recent work has focused on landscape, hence the title, 'OF Place'. I have lived in different places around the country but generally have found myself in rural or semi-rural locations. Living on 'the tops' above Hebden Bridge, I can't fail to be mesmerized by the changes imposed on the land by the changing light and weather conditions. Aside from the landscapes, I have included some earlier works such as 'Cloth Shoes' and 'Left Alone'; these speak of the loss of familiar and loved people.

'The Bay Below'
2018
Acrylic
​210 x 150mm
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​SOLD

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Where to find more of my work
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'Of Place' at Artsmill in Hebden Bridge. This is a solo exhibition that runs until Sunday 16 December. Open Wednesday to Sunday 11 - 4pm.
For more details, go to www.artsmill.org

'Small Rare Things' at Water Street Gallery in Todmorden. A group exhibition that runs until 27 January. Closed on Tuesdays. I have six flower paintings in the show. Paintings may be bought 'off the wall'. 
For more details, go to www.waterstreetgallery.co.uk

For the very short foreseeable future I have my own canal-side studio/gallery at Hebble End Works on the Rochdale Canal towpath in Hebden ...however, I will be leaving this work-space at the end of December 2018 and my new chart will be plotted!
.......Opening times vary; please contact me before travelling. 

Questions put by Fiona Pattison of www.happy4pr.tumblr.com/