Biography:

Born in British Columbia, Canada, I left to Australia in 1996 with a backpack and a love for adventure. Four years and four continents later I found myself in Scotland, deciding to rest a while – and then never left.

Following completion of the Leith School of Art foundation course in 2003 I was accepted into the 5 year Fine Art programme studying drawing and painting at ECA while specialising in Scottish art history at the University of Edinburgh. Graduating with distinction in 2008, I now manage my time between painting, my work for the Scottish charity Art in Healthcare, and teaching at Leith School of Art.

Artist Statement:

The beginnings of my compositions are inspired most often by elements of chance, splashes of paint, applied textures and arbitrary mark making. However, I see paintings everywhere and very quickly aspects of my studio surroundings begin to make their presence felt as well. A particular colour or colour combination that I notice, a shape or a line, a torn magazine page, the text from one of my books strewn around the room, a word or lyrics from a song I’m listening to at that moment, all play crucial roles in how the painting progresses. In this sense, my art investigates process and the potent influence of one’s immediate surroundings.

Signs, symbols, patterns and other various markings also find their way onto the surface; however, the majority of these tend to be painted over or destroyed as I attempt to create order from the chaos. The choice of symbols is often arbitrary, initially serving only as formal devices, and yet those that manage to survive inevitably take on new significance.

So the concrete merges with the emotional and subjective and the struggle to balance the composition continues. I work on numerous paintings at any one given time and they inspire each surrounding picture simultaneously. Consequently, this ensures a common thread runs throughout the series of works.

A mood begins to develop in each picture, which may trigger a memory or evoke an emotional response. However, very quickly the essence of this will be painted over, rubbed away or covered up so as to create or find something else, something new. Therefore, the image making process is, essentially, never ending but becomes a constant and conscious yearning for discovery.