Life-drawing session Sketch charcoal on paper (A2) and wax maquettes

My creative work spreads across a variety of media both 2D and 3D but whether printing, painting, ceramics or sculpture, the process always starts with drawing.

I’ve always drawn, when I was nine years old, I won a Typhoo Tea competition with a drawing of teacups and lions in a desert!  Often humour is still to be found in my work, particularly my ceramics, sculptures and Christmas card.   Studying technical subjects instead of fine art meant that whilst raising children, I continued drawing even though mainly straight lines for planning applications.

Having not been to art school meant all my creative studies were independent – learning skills and methods as I came across new materials and processes.  Exploration and experimentation have always been a priority.  

From on-line portrait session with model-performance artist RobertGeorge Sketch Oil on A2 paper

Very early on I studied Cezanne and his methods of composition, Kathy Kollwitz is a heroine, more recently I’ve been engaged with Goya’s etchings – the humour, the horror and the incredible greys and blacks achieved in his prints.

Like playing the piano, drawing needs to be practiced, so life-drawing at least once every month is an important discipline. Much of my work involves the human figure but often concepts arise from a subconscious experience which interacts with the materials, resulting in a spontaneous form or painting – an intuitive and emotional process. Since covid, portrait drawing on zoom has proved a boon, distorted faces, strange camera angles, bringing new dimensions to perception.

Alien Crash Recycled objects, ceramics, fabrics, solar lights at Raveningham Sculpture Trail

On the other hand, I enjoy the challenge of working to a brief, responding to a call-out which has a theme.  In this instance, my visual and emotional memory help to develop a proposal in tandem with the enjoyment of a journey researching a new subject.  A further challenge is to utilise recycled materials, such as cardboard parcel packaging.

There is always so much to discover, my next learning curve is welding, off for an immersive welding weekend very soon!