Most of my paintings are inspired by the landscapes of the Ridgeway and the Chilterns. Over many years, I have drawn and painted the chalk downland from the eastern end of the Ridgeway near Ivinghoe Beacon, across to Tring Park, Wendover Woods, Coombe Hill, Pulpit Hill, Whiteleaf Cross, Bledlow Ridge and Chinnor Hill.

My paintings are characterised by strong lines and shapes, flattened planes and blocks of saturated colour. In my earlier artistic career, I worked as an illustrator, producing black and white, pen and ink drawings. My first, very vibrant paintings were a change of direction and reflected a desire to work in colour. I still use strong colours in my landscape paintings but they tend to be more natural - greens and yellows, blues and greys, oranges and browns.

The paintings consist of several layers of acrylic paint on a collaged base. I begin by drawing the composition onto board before collaging the whole surface with tissue paper. The drawn composition is important to me; when it begins to disappear beneath the layers of tissue, I re-draw it. I then paint in acrylics onto that collage base, focusing on the original drawing but also incorporating many of the shapes that originate from the tissue layer. My aim is a synthesis between the drawing and the more abstract collage, with the painted layer bringing the two together.

Last spring, my painting ‘Ivinghoe Beacon from Steps Hill’ was judged Overall Winner in the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize. This annual exhibition is coordinated by The Friends of the Ridgeway, a voluntary organisation that seeks to preserve and celebrate the Ridgeway National Trail.

In the autumn of 2019, my painting ‘Pulpit Wood’ won second prize in ‘The People’s Landscape’ exhibition at Claydon House. The exhibition was organized by The Courtyard Art Studio in conjunction with The National Trust.