Artist's Statement

My art is a voyage of discovery in which I'm connecting with myself and experimenting with different approaches. Colour, relationships and the unseen are always present in my work to varying degrees. 

"I'm fascinated by colour, light and paint itself. In the last few years I've enjoyed using my intuition as much as observing the subtle changes of shape and colour as light shifts over a subject. I enjoy a feeling of mystery as I paint, a sort of not knowing what will appear and when I really let go there’s a spiritual element in my landscape work. With still life painting there is often a relationship or story element which appeals to the illustrator in me.”

Sometimes my paintings are bold and intuitive; at others, quiet and observed, very much like I am as a person. I’m uncovering what I find exciting to see; whether that is the way light falls around a small still life; or the energy and adventure of painting with my imagination. I love the combination of using intuition and observation.

I'm interested in the spiritual side of life - the mystery of the unseen and often there’s an energy of attempting to make the invisible visible in my work. Or it could be that the light on a particular day is so beautiful that I simply have to paint what is right in front of me. Light always affects colour and form; so most of the time I find myself exploring this whether I am working from life or not.

I paint to feel brave and connected to something beyond me. My practice is a quest for the feeling of freedom that painting, at its best, can give you. It’s not always in the dramatic paintings, sometimes it’s in the flow of the instinctive choice of paint the exact colour of light on the curve of a bowl and the elusive way the best paintings seem to make a surprise appearance. They have to find you working!

 

Bio

Born in Essex with Lithuanian/Scottish and English parents, I now live in North Norfolk with my husband, photographer Tony Buckingham with our two teenagers. We have a wild, extremely messy garden and I commute through it to my studio every day. We are ten minutes from the sea and this does seem to influences my intuitive landscapes!

After my BA(hons) in Graphic Design which I took at Kingston Polytechnic as it was then I worked for several national magazines illustrating everything from broccoli to romantic fiction. I also worked as an in-house Christmas artist for International Greetings designing cards and wrapping paper for a few years, and subsequently became a product manager for another card company for a couple of years before returning to freelancing. I illustrated many children’s books and spent ten years working on my own small cottage industry when we moved to Norfolk creating a children’s brand called Moobaacluck. I was invited to join Notonthehighstreet.com in 2009 and the brand is now From a Place of Wonder.

Since 2019 I decided to concentrate only on my painting; I took part in my first art fair which was a great success for me and sold many paintings since to clients in the US, Israel, Spain and here in the UK; in 2020 paintings were longlisted for the Jackson’s Art Prize and The Ashurst Prize and to my delight were selected at the final stages of ING Discerning Eye and The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition were my work was hung through until 2021. I was delighted to exhibit two paintings in the RA Summer show in 2023 which both sold at the private views shortly before the show opened.

Over 2021 to 2023 I developed an on line art course for budding artists called Experimental Still Life which will be open again for enrollment in late summer 2023.

 

Events

2023

November - Manchester Art Fair Nov 16th - PV 5pm - 9pm, Nov 18th 10am- 6pm, Nov 19th - visit me on stand 721

October - Exhibiting at Cambridge Contemporary Art, 6 Trinity Street, Cambridge, CB2 1SU - Focus on Ceramics, 30 Sept – 22 October

September - four paintings are currently showing at the Lilford Gallery, Canterbury

July - The Three Summer Show - joint exhibition at The Ballroom, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, 12 July - 18 July

June - 3/4th June -North Norfolk Open Studios

- Royal Academy Summer Exhibition - mid June until Sept 2023; 2 paintings shown and a print and greeting card were

published for the RA shop

May - Open Studios - Saturday 27th May to Sunday 4th June 2023 - my opening times tbc

March - Shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Feb launched the beta round of the Self-Paced version of Experimental Still Life - my 8-module art programme

Jan - new collection of small abstracts called Quiet Arrival

2022

Dec 1/2/3/4th - Norwich Art Fair

Nov 4/5/6th - Manchester Art Fair - stand no. 307

Oct - Open Studios - 2 weekends - 1/2 and 8/9

May - July 1st Experimental Still Life 2023 - I took 48 students through a 2 month live art course

March - 4th -6th - Contemporary Art Fairs - Surrey (Spring) - stand 10

Feb - new collection Sonder released; now sold

Jan - 4th - 31st devised and delivered Ignite Your Art an online art programme

- preselected for the Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2022

 

2021

December Art Fair East - Norwich - 2nd-5th

October 10-5pm 2nd/ 3rd/ 6th/ 9th/ 10th - Norfolk Open Studios

October - Art & in York - CANCELLED

Sep - selected for the Mall Gallery prize Figurative Art Now

July - selected for the Holt Festival Art Prize where my work was shown at the Adrian Hill Gallery, Holt

June - I launched Experimental Still LIfe - an on-line 8 week art programme over the summer

April - subscriber-only art sale

Jan/Feb - online art event with 10% of sales going to the charity The Benjamin Foundation

 

2020

February - online auction

May - Landmark Arts Trust in Teddington - canceled

June I set up a group called Brave in Paint to encourage and support other artists

Long-listed for the Jackson’s Art Prize and The Ashurst Prize

July Launched my first collection of paintings Line and Light

September “Falls” was short-listed and sold at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2020

October “The End of the Day” has been selected to show at the ING Discerning Eye on line exhibition - Mall Galleries

Showing at “Art &” in York Race Course from October 25th - 27th 2020. UPDATE: now canceled due to Coronavirus

December Launched my second collection BonBon

 

2019

May created a new abstract body of work which was purely intuitive

June/July selected for The Holt Festival Art Prize with Lemon and Crocosmia - sold

September I had a solo show at an outlet in Wroxham Barns , Norfolk

November I exhibited at my first art fair : Art Fair East in central Norwich

2007 - 2018

I showed with the Open Studios a few times during this period while I ran a commission based decoration business called Moobaacluck - designing stationery and gifts, illustrated and undertook pet portraits which are still available to commission on Notonthehighstreet.com/fromaplaceofwonder . In 2009 I had my only solo show to date at the Garden House Gallery in Cromer.

 

1990 - 2007

In the 1990s while living in Surrey I contributed to a couple of shows as an illustrator; at the Mall Galleries and the Association of Illustrators in London and illustrated for magazines, children’s books and paper goods companies. I also worked as an in-house Christmas card and wrapping paper designer for three years with International Greetings and for two years as a Product Manager for Card Connection - now owned by Gibson Greetings. When we moved to Norfolk I continued to work as an illustrator for several years.