Offshore for Coffee

My journey with my painting began at GCSE and A level I then used my artistic skills in window dressing for some 13 years before returning to paint when my first child was born in 2008. Since then I have been attending local art groups and workshops here in Devon where I have found inspiration and friendship. 

Motivated by this, by getting out sketching and back in my own studio I have developed my skills with acrylics and mixed media to the point that I started to teach others two years ago. Sharing what I have learned is rewarding and equally inspiring beyond words.

I have always been an patient observer, as a child I would spend hours in our suburban garden watching wildlife. Drawing was encouraged by both parents. I was then inspired by my mums poetry and illustrations, and my fathers skills as a model engineer. 

As young as eight I can remember a fascination with shadows. I would look at my shadow on the pavements in Harrow. I can still see my pig tails swinging as I skipped along. My mum or my sisters hand holding mine.

Today I am exploring strong light, reflections and cast shadows in my paintings. My subjects vary but I am most interested in street life in urban areas. I am fascinated by the relationship between the shadows of people buildings and other objects.  How the shadows intersect from these and connect people to a place, object/s and a moment in time. How the light from the sun or electric sources bounces, reflects, splatters and is caught in  the scene before me. 

In my paintings sometimes consciously, but also subconsciously I choose scenes where there is symbolic meaning. I am attracted to shadows that form crosses and also to religious buildings. I had a Christian upbringing. I consider myself at this point in my life spiritual person but Idon't practise any religion. 

I have a strong feeling that we are guided in life, and I look for signs of this and recordthem in my paintings. These could be doors opening, ladders that form in the shadows which help me or my subject move to where they need to be.

As a busy mother I am conscious of how short life is, and often my work will contain images of clocks and time.  I am interested in the moment captured in time forever. In fate, the circle of life and the wheel of fortune.

Currently I sell my work through local galleries and internationally online. This year I feel fortunate that I have been selected to show some of my work with the Society Of Woman Artists at the Mall Galleries in London in September.

I wanted to create a series of paintings based around the old harbour in Torquay. I love the wheel as a feature on the horizon in the bay. I have taken my children in the wheel and it gave me a whole new perspective of the sea front. In my paintings I like to think of the wheel as representing the wheel of fortune or the circle of life. "Offshore for Coffee" came about one afternoon when I was wandering by the harbour feeling blessed to be able to enjoy the warm evening sunshine. We live in such a beautiful area. In the sunshine Torquay can really live up to its name of "The English Riviera". I turned the corner by the Offshore Cafe and Restaurant. I loved the scene before me with the sunshine streaming through the wheel towards the people sitting and drinking. The shadows cast from old pavilion stretched so far they almost touched the people at the cafe. Older buildings are important to me as they connect us to a bygone era here in the bay. I like to think of all of the generations old and new enjoying the same atmosphere that is unique to this part of the world.

Acrylic on Canvas

38x33cm

Framed in an Open Frame