Artist Statement

Art has always been a part of my life, and it has always been linked strongly with the natural world. From my early life in Sudan and Nigeria, keeping scrapbooks of my drawings of the local flora and fauna (complete with handy facts about each species!) to my desire to go to art college despite a successful career in a more academic world, I have found myself drawn back inexorably to natural art.

My early life in Africa and the Middle East was a privilege, and exposed me to myriad colours, customs, landscapes and animals. These experiences have left an indelible mark and a wonder for the world around me. I find the majestic grandeur of the Sahara as moving as the sight of a single plant clinging to life in the middle of a cracked, dry riverbed.

My work tries to capture the gentle beauty of a cultivated rose, or the windswept, fragile strength of the roadside poppy. As I walk my young sons around each day, I am witness to the annual miracle of unfolding buds, pairing birds, and then full summer potential followed by the coppers, reds and yellows of the autumnal decline. I attempt to fill my paintings with this vibrancy, life and potential. Even with the more empty winter scenes, there is the unspoken promise of rebirth and a new generation. At the same time, there is an underlying concern in my work: whilst the power and tenacity of nature is truly incredible, there is also a poignant fragility. By highlighting the beauty, grace and preciousness of the world around us in my art, I seek to inspire the viewer to look anew at the natural wealth in which we live and to renew their vigour in appreciating the tiniest flower.

CV

Having completed my Geography BA at Oxford in 1997, I went onto do a Geography Ph.D. at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. This led to work within the Civil Service for several years, when I began to feel the pull again of my constant "hobby", art.

I studied at the Sculpture Academy in Victoria, London, building a strong foundation in figurative and natural forms and shapes. I then started a PG Diploma in Fine Art at the City and Guilds London Art School in 2003. I found this to be a truly enriching experience, and the technical side of my art developed strongly, as did my ability to demonstrate ideas in new ways.

Whilst focusing heavily on sculpture and drawing during those years at art colleges, I then struggled for the right medium for what I wanted to say when I was back in my home environment. I then found watercolours, which I find the most beautiful, fluid and evocative medium for the portrayal of the natural world. The sense of a passing urgency before a layer dries forever, the possibility of the most transparent colour-wash or the most vibrant intensity - all mirror the natural world I am seeking to interpret. I aim to make my art as beautiful as the subject that inspired it.

I sell my work through galleries throughout Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire, whilst also working to commission and exhibiting in selective art shows. In January this year I was extremely pleased to become an 'invited artist' in support of the charity 'West London Action For Children' in their Postcards Anon 2008 money raising exhibition. In addition, I am a watercolour tutor in workshops run by the Art in Action programme at Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire.

I now live with my husband, two sons and two cats in a beautiful village in Buckinghamshire, surrounded by fields and woods. The rhythm of the seasons is all around and far more tangible than in my old life in London. I also feel a greater part of that rhythm since having my sons, Raphael in October 2006 and Lochlan in February 2008. Life is wonderful.