It was so long ago when I first when to Art College that we were asked to bring swans feathers to use in our graphic classes. I trained as a scenic artist and worked as a jobbing painter and prop maker. Then real life caught up with children and proper jobs.

But now l am back in a tiny studio painting again. I find my starting place in the natural world, drawing from life and painting en plein air. Connected to the landscape trying to capture the colours as shapes to express the essence of a place.

I love the work involved in making art; stretching the paper, mixing colours, the stance at the easel, the looking. I even like the sounds of art, a wet brush “pinging” against a canvas, the whisper of a pencil line.

I try to have a sense of play about my work and am currently working on a set of illustrations featuring an urban/ urbane fox exploring my home town of Milton Keynes.