My artwork practice comes after a thirty year career in the law and represents something of a new beginning. I have always had a love of landscape and seascape in particular, their changing weather, colours and moods and how they affect us and our moods. I hope my work does something to express that. I paint mostly in oils on canvas, sometimes board. Occasionally I use acrylics, and occasionally do printmaking with linocut. The other aspect to my practice is kiln-formed and fused glass work (including slump, drape and drop) using mainly Bullseye glass or float glass. I am particularly drawn to dichroic glass because of its ability to transmit one colour and reflect another, or the vibrancy of iridescent glass. Recently I have been developing more sculptural work, moving away from items that are recognizable in form and useable into pieces purely for artistic effect. This involves an element of pushing both the material and the accepted methods of working in a way that has less predictable but often dramatic results. It can also involve exploiting the reactive properties of certain types and colours of glass together with the chemical reaction produced by inclusions. The key for me is the nature of glass itself, the transition from solid to liquid state and back again, capturing the free flow of glass through air.
I am an Ordinary Member of the Society of Scottish Artists, a member of the Contemporary Glass Society, and a Member of the Dumfries and Galloway Fine Art Society. I was a director of The Mill on the Fleet 2015-16.
My first solo exhibition took place at the Fleet Gallery in Gatehouse of Fleet in September 2014 and I have exhibited regularly ever since either as solo or group events in galleries and other venues in England and Scotland. I have also participated in open studio events in Scotland and England and other art and craft events, notably the Kirkcudbright Art and Craft Trail annually in August.
