Born in Glasgow but moved South at the age of 10.
I have studied all manor of arts in my time and I feel this has been necessary for me to get where I am today with regards to my style and how I use different mediums. I have studied fashion design and also webs design. However I have always painted from as young as I can remember - it has always been my first passion and way of self discovery.
I have always been aware of sinister laws of gender that never felt suited me. To be able to speak up in a society that perpetuates and reinforces these sinister laws only make me more determined to make my voice heard. The symbolicness of the rose in one of my series, was my way of exploring the fact that history sits with someone - through their culture etc that makes it difficult to speak out and go against the grain.
I sure have and they have given me a platform as an artist that I struggled to receive before. I really find it a useful way of testing and showing work that galleries wouldn't normally show - I can be much more open with the ideas that I have and am not afraid that I will offend anyone. I get really valuable feedback that you just wouldn't get from a gallery as you are not there all day to hear comments and talk to the public
No I have never had this opportunity.
I come from a non creative background. My creativity from a young age has been about escapism more than the practice of art - a means for me to explore who I am.
The people that buy my work seem to be of a more serious art buyer and one that likes my style of art and the subjects. Most of my work has a colourful vibe until you move closer and see the violent marks, then you realise that as in life ' a pretty picture can mask an horrific situation". .
I read a lot of literature from the web. I am most inspired about women and the issues that surround women all over the world. How lucky we are to live in a society that gives us rights. Most women do not have this, this is what makes me paint - because I can.
The most important feature to me in my work are the marks that I make. The very act of painitng is one that I deem most important to me and something that I am always challenging and moving forward. I don't like to remain still - but use the paint as a way of exploring my subjects and the paint itself.
I work on canvas with oils. I have experimented with almost every paint and surface imaginable but found oils are perfect for my work. I enjoy using them thick and heavy or diluted with lots of linseed oil.
Of course there are, if you can't see them you are not looking hard enough
I have a style that I worked very hard on for years. I can't explain clearly how I use the paint. However I do like to be very messy and sometimes through on inks to the canvas before I even start to paint. When I work I really try to find interesting shapes and colours especially on human skin.
I work in a studio usually with lots of music playing. I find working to music - any kind, of great inspiration to me and can't imagine working in a quiet studio.
I used magazine cuttings in this particular sketch book to highlight the negative aspect of beauty that magazines frivolously use. I feel that we live in a society that perpetuates sinister laws of gender. I've never been comfortable with this. I've never been comfortable being the woman that I am expected to be through idealised magazine spreads.
My marks really sybolise the turbulent narrative within my work and often can be quite violent. My style is very much all about the mark - I am a mark maker. I like to use very bold marks on top of very subtle ones - I work through a series of layers.
 |
 |
 |
 |