About

“Don’t make your picture like a picture, make it like nature. The result will be just the same, but it will be a new picture”.
The Art Spirit by Robert Henri

It all started when…

I love to make art. Creativity and making things has been a huge part of my life since I was a child.

After a few years of office work (not my forte!) I became a fabric retailer and knitwear designer. I later studied fashion and textiles at UWE Bristol, and afterwards taught fashion and textiles part-time. It was during this period I began to develop my practice using paint and other media.

Inspired by simple shapes, which include colourful ceramics, houses on hills, landscapes and seascapes - my style is naïve, sometimes abstract - with no intention of being truly representational. For me my practice is about my perception of places and things combined with my emotional and internal view of life where I try to capture the way I feel about the world around me rather than express a visual reality.

I often use flattened perspective in my compositions, and over the years I’ve been inspired by the still life works of the late Mary Fedden. There is a point when I’m working, where colours and shapes change and become more important to the picture than the subject matter itself. Yet places I have visited and objects I surround myself with, will always inform the final outcomes of my work.

Currently I am working with collage where I completely cover the canvas or
board with thin gel and mono printed papers. Once the papers are dry, I then paint over the canvas leaving certain areas of interest uncovered. The shapes and textures remaining from the printed papers form the basis of a series of compositions.

My home and studio overlook the lovely Worcestershire Teme Valley, where I live with my husband John and Mabel our beautiful Romanian rescue dog.

C A R E E R   H I S T O R Y
2006 to date
Self-employed artist.
1998 to 2012
Part-time Textiles lecturer,  School of Art & Design, Worcester College of Technology
Lecturer in HND Costume and ND Textiles.
Tutor in Adult Education courses: Exploring Textile Art, Dressmaking and Soft Furnishing Workshops at Worcester College of Technology
1994
Spring knitwear collection for Mulberry
1984 to 1992
Knitwear Designer, trading as Gilly Moon, retailing in UK, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.
1979 to 1999
Partner in Just Sew, Malvern, trading in wool and dress fabrics - later re-named Just So, trading in gifts and greetings cards.

E D U C A T I O N
2017 to 2018
MA in Contemporary Crafts, Hereford College of Arts
1992 to 1995
BA (Hons) Fashion & Textile Design, University of the West of England, Bristol
2004 to 2006
City & Guilds Certificate in Design and Craft (Embroidery)
1999 to 2000
City & Guilds Further Education & Adult Education Teachers’ Certificate
1991 to 1992
BTEC National Diploma in General Art & Design, The School of Art & Design, Barbourne, Worcester.