My fascination with architecture is probably the result of an urban childhood in south London where houses and streets were the landscapes of my daily walks to school and where, as I grew into a teenager, my weekend exercise was shopping in newly built centres. Green spaces were regulated gardens or commons where the horizon was broken by nearby Edwardian terraces and council flats.  Now when I see a terrace of solidly built houses or the regular patterns of rows of windows and balconies, I want to record their symmetrical patterns which give me a feeling of solidity and security that no doubt stems back to those early safe and happy days.

 Another pre-occupation of mine is light, particularly the light of strong sunshine and the shadows it creates. Recent holidays in Tenerife have provided me with some wonderful material; buildings glowing in the strong sunshine, showing off their cleverly designed colours against azure skies. I get the same thrill from reflected light on local windows and some of my paintings include these, best captured on sunny winter days or late summer afternoons, when the low sun turns them into mirrors of the immediate vicinity.

 My main consuming passion however is colour and design. I have always been seduced by gorgeous fabrics in wonderful rich colours and have devoted long hours to making curtains and cushions for the many homes I have lived in over the years. I had a passion for William Morris fabrics when younger and am probably influenced very much by his colour sense and symmetry, finding that I often want to re-create a flat print-like quality in my paintings which are often mainly about shape and colour. Other artists and designers that have influenced me include Patrick Caulfield, with his interiors of simple lines and flat colour and more recently the portrait painter Jonathan Yeo, whose collaged faces have won great media acclaim. I remain fascinated, however, by the creativity of the early Modernist artists of the early twentieth century when Cubism turned perceptions of art on its head and exciting new movements developed as a result including the Vorticists in England and the later Precisionists in America. Much of the art that inspires me today can trace its roots to that time including the American Photorealist movement of the ‘70s and its more recent postmodern revival.


       In recent years my focus has switched to the natural world and I have become fascinated by botanical art. I strive to emphasise the wonderful designs and colours in nature while at the same time stylising my work to give it a contemporary feel. In this way my work emulates that of the designer William Morris who used natural forms to bring style and colour to interior design at the end of the 19th century. He was continuing a tradition of wallart, popular in 18th century French chateaux and English stately homes, which not only depicted classical mythology but also celebrated the romance of the natural world, with wall panels and tapestry echoing the views from the windows of gardens designed by Capability Brown and others. Recently interior design companies such as de Gourney have revived this fashion using modern printing techniques to create wall panels that depict classical scenes to compliment modern interiors, an idea I try to replicate in recent paintings.  I have also been inspired by the work of Henri Rousseau who, in spite of never visiting the Tropics, produced a wonderful series of ‘Jungle’ paintings inspired by the botanical gardens and parks of early 20th century Paris, works I was lucky enough to see in all their amazing vibrancy when I visited the Musee D’Orsay  recently. His paintings are particularly appropriate for modern interiors, echoing the colours and designs of the latest fabrics and wallpapers, many of which, like my work, aim to evoke the harmony and excitement of the natural world.