My Inspiration

I live on the Rhins of Galloway, a peninsula in southern Scotland which gives us access to many local beaches, each with their own character.  I often grab my sketchbook when I head down to the shore to record those fleeting impressions of sand, sea and sky.  Sometimes it’s the waves or skies that grab my attention, other times it’s all about what’s happening at my feet.

From seashore to abstract

The Shoreline and Wilderness Road pieces are inspired by the long stretch of sand at Port Logan where the pebbles shift with each new tide and the upper shoreline is full of natural and man-made finds.  Shells, driftwood, pebbles and crunchy dried seaweed compete for space with old netting and brightly coloured frayed rope, bricks worn smooth, nuggets of tumbled glass and (sadly) lots of sea-washed discarded plastic.

I see paths and lines everywhere – rivulets of water coming down the beach, cracks in rocks, stripes on shells, strands of seaweed, the ridges in the sand from the receding waves.

These observations form the foundation for the work I create back in the studio, where I use the inspiration of sketches and foraged shoreline treasures to develop my ideas and abstract the essential elements to create something new.

The  natural tones in the Shoreline paintings have developed into stronger, more vivid colours in the two Wilderness Road paintings, but both capturing the lines, cracks and rivulets that captured my interest at the time.

Capturing Light

Another of my fascinations is capturing light – whether that is a shaft of sunlight on the sea, the eerie quality of moonlight or the way it is filtered through leaves and branches in woodland.  Of course it gets filtered through my imagination along the way to create a colourful and sometimes other-worldly atmosphere.