About me

I was born and brought up in Northumberland. The landscape and climate of this county are very important to me, never more so than now, when I am out in the landscape painting as often as possible. 

I have had little formal art education. I taught myself to draw using Betty Edwards’ book ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ and then spent several years doing evening classes at Blackburn College. The college has a proud heritage of teaching traditional drawing skills and I learned a great deal from my outstanding tutors, Mark Edmondson and Richard Cross.   

I learned sewing as a child and continued to sew throughout my adult life. The possibilities for creativity in textile arts were attractive and I completed a Certificate followed by a Diploma in Stitched Textiles at the Stitchbusiness school in Durham City. I am very grateful to Tracy A Franklin and Julia Triston for their excellent teaching. I’ve been stitching ever since.  

I am currently a member of Edge Textile Artists Scotland, serving on the committee and helping to organise exhibitions.

These days I spent most of my time doing something creative. I paint twice a week with my painting partner Jill Spence. We go out into the fabulous landscape of Northumberland and the Borders whenever weather conditions allow and otherwise spend the time in the studio at the end of my garden. I use my time in the rest of the week on sketchbook work, woolly pursuits like knitting, and lots of embroidery.