My family like to tell this anecdote (of which I have no memory) – when I was 11 years old someone asked what I wanted to do when I grew up? My unswerving response – “become a local artist” (not just an “artist”, note, a *local* artist). What a little oddball I was. Instead, I went to Cambridge Uni’ to study literature then began my decades-long publishing career after graduation.

Getting going…

Active creativity only kicked off when I moved with my family out of London back to my childhood home of Wales. I was just married, in my early 40s, with a 4 year old and a 1 year old in tow – a late starter in more ways than one.

The day job was busy too. I ran a business as a content designer for hire in the natural resources management sector. But something was troubling me – an unidentified and unattended need – and that’s when I began to make exploratory art.

By 2019 I was teaching printmaking regularly from my renovated studio. Work from my first career was put on the back burner. Then, with the arrival of Covid, I turned my attention to painting to add to my printmaking skills. In between homeschooling. Gulp.

Opening Skirrid Gallery

As a body of work grew I was running out of space. I decided to open Skirrid Gallery to welcome visitors who were already buying my work online. Since then I have been represented by various galleries – from Bluestone in Hay on Wye to The Art Chapel, Abergavenny – and in 2022 I co-curated the touring Mappa Marches exhibition and workshops.

I’m looking forward to lots more shows, open studios and developing online learning as well as in-person workshops.

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