I work primarily as a painter, making dynamic landscape paintings that capture the beauty of my surroundings. I mainly work with acrylic but also experiment with watercolour and oil paints. My strategy when painting begins with a sketchbook. I make numerous preliminary drawings and sketches, gathering as much inspiration possible before beginning a major piece, drawing from life as well as adapting research from secondary sources which include personal photographs and images from the internet.
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For as long as I can remember I have had a keen interest in painting and aspired to be an artist. However, recently I have experimented with many other areas of art including; installation, photography and digital art. Despite this painting has always been my forte.
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artist statement
"Fantasy and reality often overlap."
- Walt Disney
I did not originally set out to make landscape paintings; this is an interest I have developed over time while studying at university. I have been known to make portraits in the past using a range of mediums including charcoal, marker pens and pencil, but making acrylic simulacra landscape paintings is something I am drawn to. I have a passion for landscapes and I am constantly expanding my painting skills and learning more with each painting I make.
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In my most recent project, I found myself making large landscape paintings based on my surroundings in the City of Sunderland and its neighbouring areas. I take well-known symbolic structures and incorporate elements of fairy-tale and escapism to create possible utopias and gothic fictions that suggest that there is magic within the city for those of us wanting to visually vacate from our everyday lives. I like to think of my paintings as windows of escape that will transport the viewer to an alternative Sunderland; another dimension consisting of powerful and exotic dream-like fantasies which heighten emotions in the viewer.
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The theme of Symbolism was not an intentional attribute in my work at first, but is a recurring theme I have discovered in my escapist work which has led to my current practice of “Symbolic Escapism”. It is a language I have developed consisting of bright, eye-catching colours combined with symbolic, poetic imagery and sometimes include sunsets and upbeat skies showing the dramatic contrast between light and darkness, between consciousness and unconsciousness, while also serving as a romantic escape.
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My artistic influences range from renowned 19th-century symbolists to 21st-century artists who make escapist paintings including Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901), Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Makiko Kudo (b.1978) and Peter Doig (b.1959). I also take inspiration from movies and theatre productions as they are a form of escape outside of painting and the superb effects that are used in contemporary films are much to be admired. Tim Burton fantasy movies such as Big Fish (2003) and Edward Scissorhands (1990) are filled with bright suburban imagery combined with gothic dark-fictive architecture and this contrast is something that inspires me. The larger-than-life props, backdrops and colourful costumes in musical theatre productions including The Lion King feed my creative mind's eye.