Artist Statement

I am a Fine Art painter and printmaker living and working in Co. Wicklow, Ireland.

I have always had a strong affinity with nature and our landscape, from my early childhood adventures with my father, hiking up mountains, feeling so very small walking through the wet ferns that towered over me like the canopy of a forest. Smelling the wet earth and feeling the droplets landing upon my face. Such wonderment and adventure and a total sense of freedom, freedom from everyday anxieties and pressures, with nothing more to think about than the simple pleasure of putting one foot in front of the other, looking forward to the next discovery that the Earth would share with me.

My work is inspired by this abiding memory and the strong belief that our very beings are intrinsically connected with the Earth and that the Earth has the power to nurture and sustain us.

Through my work, I want the viewer to feel some of the essence of the experience of being in the natural world. I want to share that sense of ‘grounding’, of being still and present, and to guide them into experiencing or looking closer at nature and regaining their sense of wonderment and connection with our natural world.

I approach my work by laying down layers to build up the surface so to invite the viewer to touch the work, to have a tactile experience. In the Rock Series, I want the viewer to get a sense of the timelessness of rocks and a strong sense of stillness but also I want to evoke that sense of curiosity….

In my Foliage Series, I want to give the viewer a ‘close up’ experience of the lush, green leaves that are nature’s way of offering protection. I invite the viewer to feel small and uplifted and experience a ‘lightness of being’, to be enticed into looking through the leaves and wondering what could be hidden beyond. I want to share my connection to the natural world.