I always enjoyed art but did no drawing or painting between O Level and my ‘middle years’, although I always had some sort of creative project on the go, usually with textiles. I then started going to local authority classes, joined the RGA and other art groups and currently belong to the New Hearns Art Group, which grew out of a group that John Pumfrey once ran.

I enjoy the looking and the seeing, colours, shapes and patterns, coupled with finding out which media please me and allow a nice mixture of control and accident. I particularly love playing with acrylic inks in a totally abstract way, seeing where they lead me. I also keep holiday and outdoor sketchbooks, usually in watercolour.

Other than in my sketchbooks, the aim now is more and more to try and catch the feeling or essence of something than to do a faithful representation of what I see.