About

I have always been interested in drawing and painting. As a kid I made drawings of the animals we had at home, such as our chickens and cats. As an adult I took up painting classes at the AGO gallery school. Art is my creative outlet and find it both meditative and exciting at the same time. I was always attracted to colour and nature. So I paint plants and animals, but not always realistically. I like the idea of making people smile when they see my work, so I give my animals character and presence.

After painting with acrylics for several years I moved to oils and enjoyed their consistency. I liked the fact that they don’t dry as quickly, and that you can blend colour so well. A few years ago I experimented with a technique new to me – sgraffito – where a top layer of colour is scratched to reveal a colour beneath. The term comes from the Italian word sgraffire meaning (literally) "to scratch". I have been developing and working this technique since that time.

I under-paint in acrylic. Once it dries I paint over in oils and then scratch through that layer before it dries. I liked the effect. I painted some flowers and then started painting animals again – some realistic, some from my imagination, all with scratches on them. The scratches are not always visible from a distance, but up close you can see their patterns, lines and shapes. The paintings take me a long time to make but I enjoy the process.