Biography
I had a wonderful life on my parent’s farm, and after leaving school I worked in a laboratory, then milked cows, followed by 10yrs as an audiologist. I left this to become a hands on dairy farmers wife. Later we had to give up dairying as did many others, and after a further 9 yrs back in audiology, I retired. The country life I loved had given me an awareness and appreciation of the flora and fauna around me.
In 2012 I started painting wild plants and flowers, and joined our village art group. I hadn’t painted since school, but with encouragement from my husband, inspiration from seeing the beautiful paintings at an SBA exhibition and attending six of the late Jenny Jowett’s amazing 2 day workshops, I progressed and was fortunate enough to have a few of my paintings accepted for three SBA exhibitions
Ten years after retiring, my husband and I are moving from our farm to a bungalow, so painting has taken a back seat temporarily, but the pull to paint is very strong as I walk round our fields and spot the hawthorn berries, sloes, acorns galore, the changing colour of autumn leaves and black bryony, looking like strings of red beads. The beauty and intricacies of every aspect of a plant inspires me. I spend a great deal of time just studying the detail and colour and enjoy the challenge as I try to bring the plant alive as I paint.