Sketches

Sketching is an integral part of my practice. The humble line allows for simple, fluid observations of my surroundings to be held within the pages of my visual thoughts. I work with bamboo dip pens, use a variety of pencils from the everyday to chunky graphite sticks, paint sticks and coloured pens. Each leave their mark from landscape to paper, whether I’m immersed in the great British landscape or in my childhood home of equatorial Kenya, conveying the immersive cyclical connection between the landscape and myself.

Colour has always been with me from childhood. Growing up amongst the backdrop of deep red soil and glowing light sat the most vivid, and at times the most luminous array of every colour imaginable dotted along roadside verges, urban gardens, sprouting from footpath crevices, climbing out of and up along the walls – colour and texture were a feast for the eyes in the shape of plants, trees and foliage. Colour has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I have been playing with colour mixing and light-play ever since in different capacities, but more seriously within my art practice some years ago. Sketching is not only my anchoring but is also my tool and permission to continue playing with colour in an explorative way, encouraging ‘hidden’ or ‘shy’ colours to come to the forefront, inviting us to see beyond our everyday colour palette.

The treasure trove of nature’s colours and natural light informs my print studies with the inking roller being my paintbrush, capturing the fluidity and simplicity of line and texture in a painterly technique – echoed in my new work.