From my notebooks

Like most children I loved making pictures from as young as I can remember…

Because I showed promise, when I was about seven, my mother took me to have lessons with a dear old lady who my mother said was “a proper artist”. She lived on her own in a large chaotic bed-sit in Swiss Cottage, London. I can still remember the impression her studio made upon me and how it smelt of the paraffin heater and the mysterious oil paints of her trade.

At school in my teens I experimented with painting, drawing and calligraphy. I fell in love with renaissance painting, the Pre-Raphaelites, Egyptian art, Gauguin and Matisse. In the art room a very inspiring teacher, Mr. Rolfe, initiated me into the wonderful tactile experience of working with clay. I was supposed to make pottery but soon rebelled and started making sculptures from my imagination instead. I have always loved sculpture because it exists in real time and space and offers a multitude of aspects. As spectator we provide the movement as we slowly circumambulate the piece. I believe my sculpture has greatly informed the way I paint.

After school I studied life drawing, sculpture and anatomy at the Sir
John Cass College, London. I couldn't get enough of it. Then I took my BA degree in Expressive Arts (Fine Art and Dance) in Brighton and I was catapulted towards painting. I invented a type of mono printing using the silk-screen process and realized that images can form a multi-faceted symbolic language and that colour acts directly upon the subconscious. My excitement knew no bounds and I painted like a demon, re-discovering the child in me, playing with pure, brilliant intensities of colour, drawing into the work, layering it, taking chances, always asking the question “what if?”

Slowly I found a way to unite classical technique with a spontaneity afforded by the fluidity of modern paint mediums. It satisfied my respect for technical ability and my desire to respond emotionally and spontaneously.

Through my degree work I entered a phase of tremendous creativity, combining different art forms into a whole. I aspired to be a true renaissance woman, writing poetry and dancing as well as painting. The different disciplines came together in multi-media performances based on my poetry, that I created for Brighton’s art festivals. In each of these performances I co-wrote and directed, painted large backdrops, choreographed and danced.