Artist Biography

Born in 1977, I spent my childhood between England and Portugal, always drawing and painting what I saw, read and imagined. I now live in Oxford, UK, working from my garden studio, creating imaginative realism paintings in oil.

I am largely self-taught, but bring influences from my psychology degree, a short course at the Académie des Beaux Artes in Grasse, my love of colour and opulence, and my longstanding fascination with ancient, medieval and Renaissance art.

For most of my adult life I worked in marketing, until a serious illness reminded me that life is short, and caused me to re-evaluate my priorities. As a result I left my desk job and returned to painting in 2022.

Since then, I’ve exhibited a number of times in the UK, including in Oxford, Brighton and London, and my paintings have found homes in the UK, Europe and America.

My art is inspired by the wonder and chaos of life, and the resilience of the living.

I am in awe of the lifeforce of all creatures, with our unifying will to survive in a beautiful and chaotic world where no outcome is certain. My work is a personal response to this, catalysed by my statistically unlikely survival of a dangerous illness, and my resulting joy at being alive.

I am drawn to the historical continuum of stories, art, and artefacts that stand testament to our shared human lust for life, our search for meaning, and our innate yearning for beauty.

I am especially interested in the age-old stories that are told to make sense of life and the powerful natural world around us – the myths, fables, folklore and symbolism that are woven into our collective understanding of the world and our place in it. I am intrigued by how similar we are across time and cultures here - with our ubiquitous need for ‘gods and monsters’ to explain the ineffable.

In my paintings I borrow characters, symbols and moments from these age-old stories; re-writing, re-claiming, or weaving brand new ones. I choose to create narratives that re-balance power and re-claim joy: an antidote to fear and loathing and a call to freedom and wonder.

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