I am largely a self-taught artist. Since moving from Woodstock in Oxfordshire to St Ives in 2000 I have focused on developing my contemporary abstract paintings. This work is very much influenced by living in a house which overlooks the harbour, the whole sweep of St Ives Bay and Porthminster Beach directly below. This is evident in my use of the subtle blues and grey colours that dominate my work and reflect the constant changing light and weather that passes across the bay. Favourite sources of design are the clustered mussel shells; Cornish landscape; abstract grids; and Venice buildings – but many paintings are an intuitive exploration of colour and texture where the outcome is unknown and exciting! My early work involved textiles when I used manipulated fabric and stitch in subtle, textured panels. Although no longer using textiles, many of my paintings, papier mache pots, sculptures and book forms feature applied papers and a variety of textures which create a rich and interesting surface. An important part of much of my work is the inclusion of fragments of personal letters and various texts and typefaces, from which many of the paintings’ titles are taken.