Originally from Cornwall, I studied at Falmouth and Kingston Colleges of Art before embarking on a career in design and illustration in London. Children brought me back to the South-West where, with my husband, I started the Limekiln Gallery in Calstock, specialising in contemporary art from the Tamar Valley. Here I work, teach drawing, and illustrate children’s books.

I am excited by the thought of capturing a moment in time, distilling a feeling, evoking a thought, a mood or an emotion. I want to take the viewer to where I was – lying in the sun gazing up through branches, looking through a reflection to what may lie beneath, hearing the sound of a flock of birds startled. I set myself the impossible task of telling a story in one image. I work on paper with pencil, ink and charcoal, and also make etchings, linocuts and monoprints.

Ley is a member of the 21 Group. Formed in 1967, the 21 Group of Artists is now one of the longest established groups of exhibiting professional artists in the South West. The group invites its members to produce high quality work that recognises the intelligence of the hand and the embodied wisdom born out of physical making (such as painting, drawing, printmaking) as a means to establish a robust, experiential, and authentic art practice.

The group seeks to evolve and disseminate this counter culture through exhibition and discussion. In order to foster this, and to preserve the opportunity for creative dialogue between its members, it still limits its membership to a maximum of 21 artists. The group aims to mount two or three exhibitions a year, usually held within the South West region.

 Etching

39x46cm

 Framed under glass