The shore of Morecambe Bay is an amazing place, the salty smells and if the tide is in, the sounds of moving water and the softness of the air. The skies are often bright but at other times they are full with the mist of rain. As a painter of landscape, I do a lot of ‘slow looking’ to take in the full pleasure and immensity of the view. We have all grown up in a culture of over work, over consumption and rush which, without spending time absorbed in the immediacy and aliveness of nature can dull our responses to the world around us.

My landscape paintings aren’t passive observation. They are about what it feels like to be in a particular landscape. The movement within the landscape and the layer upon layer of natural and human intervention that continues to shape it. If you look closely at many of my paintings you will suddenly see I use painted layers to reflect the layers found in the landscape. I start with hand-painted collage and even pages from old books, building up shapes and areas, then painting and over painting, adding textures and painted lines. The starting point of the painting always disappears, but if I was to scratch through the surface, it would be there somewhere. The paintings develop a life of their own.

I live and work on a hill above Morecambe Bay. For many years I was a wallpaper and textile designer for major high street brands. With the advent of the digital camera I started taking abstracted landscape photos and have  exhibited in the UK and Europe. When I became bored with the limitations of the camera I returned to painting.