Girl with Red Nails

Oil on canvas
40cm x 40cm

Originally from Harrogate, N.Yorks, I studied Art Foundation in my home town, and subsequently moved to London to study a Fine Art BA at St Martin’s School of Art. After graduating, I experimented with various creative forms including literary fiction writing and short film making whilst always maintaining a love of life drawing. Ultimately, I made a serious return to oil painting, and have since pursued an exploration of figurative art.

Prizes include the Platinum award in The Cancer Feminine Competition 2022, the Judges Choice Prize in the Chaiya Art Awards 2021 and winner of the Holly Bush Emerging Woman Painter Prize 2018. I have also been shortlisted for the John Ruskin Prize 2019, The New Lights Art Prize 2020, and have exhibited in galleries such the Mall Galleries (Ing Discerning Eye, Society of Women Artists) and the JD Malat Gallery and Gallery Marquess, Mayfair.

For me oil paint is the perfect medium to express the human form. I work the surface of the painting intensely, building up a succession of layers to express the complexities of the living flesh and the intangible nature of the human soul. Although realistic from a distance, when viewed in proximity the brush strokes can be seen to be loose, as if in motion, alive. Often I employ reflections and a composition which spirals introspectively to draw the viewer into an intimate space.