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 in the area – from Bluestone in Hay on Wye to The Art Chapel, Abergavenny – and in 2022 I co-curated the touring Mappa Marches exhibition and workshops.

My work is now being accepted in nation-wide shows including, Wales Contemporary 2025 (exhibited in Chelsea Barracks, London), the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair and the Royal Cambrian Academy.

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

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