I have been finding out about ways to incorporate my photographs into my paintings. I take photos constantly...so many in fact that I have to have regular 'delete' sessions! 

Editing the images into black and white, printing them on fine papers and collaging these prints into layers of paint and ink is a lovely way to create new types of images and to weave together different aspects of my creative practice. It is opening my mind to new possibilities.

I love collagraph printmaking - a process which involves creating printing plates, inking and polishing them and then printing them by hand using a printing press. This is an incredibly exciting and creative process, which gives me exactly the scope for experimentation that I most enjoy when creating work. 

There is something incredibly satisfying about making, testing and refining printing plates and a certain sense of jeopardy when pulling initial prints! I love working in a space where there is only a certain amount that I can control alongside the freedom to work with what...

In June 2024 I was lucky to be an Artist in Residence at Truro High School for Girls, working alongside four other artists. We made our own work in response to the school site and I also facilitated collaborative drawing and painting sessions with groups of students. I really enjoyed the process - making work that was different to the sort of thing I would normally make. I focused on experimental drawing, creating a large 'still life' set up to work from, with found objects from the art room and plants and flowers from my garden. I also made some drawings whilst walking around the school's...

I am collaborating with textile artist and painter Sarah Pooley. We share a love of the coast and are jointly creating works in mixed media and stitch. This is Slow Art. We send work by post for the other to respond to. Over months, our co-created images reveal themselves.  We learn from each other and make work that has its own character, whilst still remaining true to our own voices. A joyful creative partnership. Our first collection can be found here. 

I loved collaborating with artist Sue King from Ohio in the US. We share a love of walking in nature and made two concertina sketchbooks together to share our inspiration and create joint mini works of art. We each started a book and posted it to the other to add to. These books travelled back and forth many times! Well travelled artist books! And in the making, we were entering into a correspondence, finding out more about each other. This is a real joy! You can follow our progress on our Instagram accounts and see videos about the books on my You Tube channel.

Cameraless photography / lumen printing. Making photograms with sunlight and salt water. I place my beachcombing treasures on photographic paper and let them sit in the sun. After exposure the images bathe in seawater in the dark until they are fixed. It is a kind of alchemy. Magical. A mixture of art and science, process and serendipity. Beautiful, ethereal images capture a moment in time. I am entranced!

And with the addition of cyanotype chemistry, the magical blues and greens of rockpools appear before my eyes. 

Natural monotypes. I am working with cuttlefish ink on the beach. It is fitting that I use a natural ink that came from the sea. I wade and crouch and kneel, armed only with ink and paper...finding ways to capture the marks made by moving water, the shapes of seaweed, the textures of sand and rock. Seafoam, beach treasure and saltwater on paper, inky marks that smell of the sea.