Nature is the lifelong inspiration behind my work. I use a mixture of materials with layers of colour, creating textural effects, usually on paper. Together with my idea, I use photographs and drawings as my initial source. The image is often found through an explorative way of working, resulting in something between a drawing and a painting. It is a part of nature such as trees or water I usually focus on, more than a landscape.
As I was from the city, I am not sure how it started; I grew up in east London but was drawn to the natural world, looking at anything available, from leaves and trees to the sky. Perhaps it was due to family background in Spain, where on trips, a deeper connection and fascination with nature were formed in the rocky foothills of the Pyrenees, in the province of Huesca. This place would have its lasting influence on me.
Also from a very young age I loved colour and drawing. As a teen, I got interested in photography, both colour and black & white, and I started taking photographs with my first film camera. Eventually I went on to study fine art at West Surrey College of Art and Design, graduating with a BA Honours degree in 1993. Later I studied photography at City of Westminster College in London, and later still, I took workshops in printmaking.
Now living in north Wales, I source my ideas in the varied landscape between the sea and Snowdonia. Another element to my work is my interest in human nature - the unique way we perceive the natural world and how it seems to reflect metaphors about our lives. Wherever we may live there is always something in nature, however small, which provides opportunity for reflection and solace, through which we can also find healing. As my artwork is centred on this idea, I hope in turn it can do the same.
Throughout my life many different artists have accompanied me. Among them to name just a few are Vincent Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Georgia O'Keeffe, Mark Rothko, brothers Paul Nash and John Nash, Hiroshige, Emily Carr...
