I feel a strong bond with the landscape that I grew up in, the open moorlands of the north-west of England. As a displaced northerner, my interest and feelings for the magnificent desolation of the moorland landscape have grown stronger over the years; it has become my mental physiognomy, my portable kingdom.
I draw inspiration from those places on the fringes, the open expanses of the Pennine moorlands of Lancashire, the embattled coastline of north Norfolk and Northumberland. The landscape as a site of conflict has been of long time interest to me; the relentless assault of the sea upon the eastern coastline, of the weather upon the moorlands. The traces of intrusions made into the landscape, the remains of abandoned fortifications and refuges are testimonies to a past of defence, and of resistance and settlement.
I use colour to evoke moods and feelings quite subjectively. My paintings evolve mostly through improvisation, working intuitively from initial subjects without fixed notions of what a finished painting will look like.
Perhaps the paintings are attempts at trapping illusive, fleeting thoughts, recalled memories or feelings that spark between oneself and a place, in time.”
