Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence
- Matisse

As an expressionist painter, my drawing practice reflects a pursuit of the expressive mark. I strive to create images from the everyday; -building them up with gradual layering, pattern....sometimes random mark-making, to create a unified whole.
This process involves a balance of letting go to working with my imagination/intuition and embracing the more formal elements of composition, space, depth, tone .
My current drawings explore the concept of place and how one engages with memories of places. Creatively the emphasis is on process and materiality in image-making. The work gradually evolves by making subtle shifts both in the materials and varied use of mark-making/treatment of the surface.... balancing memory / imagination of the lived experience, with reference to the photographic source as a trigger for expressing these ideas. Key elements also include the notion of inside – looking out, outside – looking in, micro and macro views of place. My goal is to create dynamic works that speak to the viewer of the organic process of creating artwork as well as of a personal connection to place. The viewer is invited to share something of the building of a drawing as mixed media are combined dynamically to give a sense of evolution and layering within the work. The drawn image emerges to be engaging, dynamic, bold - also maintaining an ethereal, dream-like quality. It evokes a sense of depth, 3 dimensionality;-images within images, stories within stories.