It's very quiet here 2016 - 2018

This series of paintings draw inspiration from landscape witnessed in all seasons. These intense times of looking, listening, writing and drawing are the starting point for paintings which explore the space between abstraction and figuration.

“It’s very quiet here is often my first sentence when writing notes in the landscape each season. These notes sometimes include what is happening personally or politically in the wider world at that time. The challenge and dichotomy of how we experience the beauty in this world alongside the troubled times we live in is evident in some of the books I make. These are exhibited alongside books which reflect on loss and grief. My artist’s books ‘Queen of the Mountains’, ‘Queen of the Seas’ and 'Queen of the Groves’ record the flowers and plants picked each season to commemorate loved ones who have passed away.

The paintings in this exhibition explore picture-making using thin, stained and layered paint. Each painting starts with a memory or sense of place and develops intuitively. “I try to create opportunities for something to happen which I am not expecting. I like the uncertainty, the call and response of ‘finding’ a painting and the contemplative process of bringing it to a point of resolution.”

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