Biography
My work is landscape based, about the experience of actually being in a place. I spend a great deal of time working on location often returning to the same piece of landscape again and again over a long period of a time. Watching changes that the weather and the season have on a familiar landscape is important to me.
When I begin working in a chosen landscape, I spend time looking, trying to understand the essence of the place. I make drawings in a sketchbook as I walk through the landscape; working very quickly. For me the important thing is to strive to express the elusiveness of the light on the land or water.
Back in the studio I spread out the drawings and watercolours and away from the motif, ideas begin to emerge. For the last few years I have been making monoprints . I enjoy the directness of the medium, the way one can work quickly and respond to unexpected happenings. I use large sheets of paper which allows me to make free marks either using the end of a brush or my fingers. I often work in this way on a related series of prints adding additional marks with pastel.
Biography:
Studied at Carlisle College of Art
Royal College of Art,London.
Awards
1980 National Museum Prize,Krakow International Print Biennale, Poland.
1976 The Pallas Prize,British International Print Biennale.
1974 The Giles Bequest, British International Print Biennale.
1962 J. Andrew Lloyd Scholarship for Landscape, Royal College of Art.
Selected One-Person Exhibitions:
2010 Queens Hall Arts Centre, Hexham, Northumberland.
2009 Stains of Light. Tullie House Art Gallery, Carlisle.
2007 Solway Shoreline, Rockcliffe Gallery,Scotland
2005-6 Light from the Lakes, toured by South Australian Arts Council
2004 Fleurieu Peninsula Biennale,South Australia
2002 A Wider Landscape, 3% W Gallery, Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere
2001 Manchester Central Library, Manchester Poetry Festival
Gallery Wolf, Haamstede Arts Festival,Zeeland,Netherlands
1998 Land Sea Sky, Customs House, South Shields.
Selected Collections:
Victoria and Albert Museum. Abbot Hall Art Gallery,Kendal. Arts Council England. British Council. Glasgow Art Gallery. National Library of Scotland. Plymouth Art Gallery. Sheffield Art Gallery. Tullie House Art Gallery. Wordsworth Trust. Algemene Bank,Holland. Royal Bank of Scotland. Northern Rock Foundation. Northumberland County Council. Touche Ross. North Sea Ferries. Yale Centre of British Art, Newhaven. U.S.A.