Watercolour,oil,egg tempera

Interpreting buildings, landscapes, faces and flowers in new ways and in different media, with colour being of prime importance.

My training as a biologist helped me to 'see' and this was a great asset when I took up painting. Naturally plants and flowers remain a great inspiration but, having tried botanical illustration, I quickly moved on to a freer style.

An introduction to egg tempera painting gave me the perfect vehicle for capturing the vibrancy of flowers on gesso or paper. Australian flowers proved particularly exciting.

I have also experimented with using egg tempera to portray religious and mystical subjects. Egg tempera, being an opaque medium, led me into using gouache as a medium for a whole painting concentrating on simplified shapes and contrasting colour combinations. This lends itself well to painting buildings and formal gardens.

I paint in most mediums and, in the past year, have specially enjoyed using pen and ink and watercolour to portray scenes from Cambridge and flower studies. Discovering water soluble oils has also encouraged me to experiment with this far from inferior medium.