biography
My work is founded on the experience of being in the landscape. My practice was based in rural Wales for thirty years, and the work has developed from an affinity and deep understanding of the landscape gained by the continuity of walking, looking, and keeping visual records. The border country of England and Wales and the Black Mountains has been a permanent source of ideas and visual references from which I can develop work. I make work in a form and medium that, to me, is appropriate to conveying the idea. Drawing is central to my process in making a piece of work.
The experience of working with Landscape Designers in the Netherlands, at the University of Greenwich and involvement on theatre projects has been influential in the conceptual development of my work.
I studied at St Martins School of Art from 1955 -1959 at a time of change and development in art education. I benefited from an eclectic curriculum and a diversity of teaching which included a foundation in painting and sculpture with an emphasis on drawing. I specialised in illustration, textile design and printmaking and graduated in Illustration.
After graduating from St Martins, I was employed at the Raoh Schorr Design Studios, to work on sculptural items for major London retailers. My early practice as an illustrator was art work for magazines, advertising and textile design. It led to specialist commissions from leading publishers, to illustrate wild life and natural history books.
I grew up in the countryside of rural Sussex, where my preference was to be outside in the landscape rather than indoors. My practice is now based in Hereford but I also work from my shepherds hut in the mountains near Abergavenny.