I am delighted to announce that I was elected to become a Royal West of England Academician in 2023. I look forward to being involved with this organisation. Here is a recent photograph of me in my studio by Paul Jefferis. My work encompasses drawing, painting, print and animation…storytelling has formed a continuous thread across my creative practice. I believe in the power of art to communicate beyond language, and to heal.

Levitation with Flowers was selected for the Small But Mighty printmaking show by Jonny Hannah for the Royal Society of painter-printmakers exhibition at Bankside Gallery 9-19 November. Levitation with Flowers is a solar etching 10x12cm. As a child I used to try to levitate between two chairs. This levitation is more like the dream sequence in The Mirror a film by Tarkovsky.  It is in memory of my mother. The magic of art makes things that seem impossible achievable.

Word to Wonder at the Slade Centre  was curated by Glen Innes to celebrate art inspired by books. Word to Wonder includes work from Jindra Jehru, Johnny Bull, Jonty Sale, and Chris Edwick. ‘The Alienist’ is a painting on glass about a crime novel by Caleb Carr. Miniature paintings are installed inside a doll house gallery. The ‘Nutshell Gallery’ was inspired by the ‘Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death’ by Corinne May Botz and the ‘Miniaturist’ by Jessie Burton. Also on display is my new triptych ‘Transformations’ inspired by reading William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Storylands’ a book by Amy Jeffs. Visitors are invited to stay a while and browse through the reference books while they look at the exhibition. ‘Transformations’ is pictured here, oil on canvas 120x350cm.

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 29 Setember-15 October at the Buoy Store, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London E14 OJY touring

I am thrilled that Winding the Skein (animated charcoal drawing) was selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize.  Winding the Skein is about the mother-daughter relationship using the metaphor of winding wool to form an attachment and then cutting the thread when it’s time to let go as the child individuates. This was inspired by a scene in Maya Deren’s film Ritual in Transfigured Time. My daughter Amy made the soundtrack to go with the animation.

Dante’s Inferno litho scroll featured in ‘Collaboration in Practice British Lithography 1900-2022′ by Paul Croft. The scroll was editioned with Catherine Ade at Lemonade Press in Bristol. It was made during a residency at Lemonade Press with the support of a bursary from a-n The Artists Information Company and Arts Council England. It was also the subject of an article ‘Turning up the Heat’ in Printmaking Today (Winter 2022). Dante’s Inferno litho scroll is on display in the Kenny Gallery at the Royal West of England Academy from 8 September-29 October.

Fish Face, hand coloured solar etching is in the Evolver Magazine Prize Exhibition at the new Yeovil Arts Space until August 26.  Fish Face is based upon a short story by Barry Yourgrau called Out of Water. In the story a man invited a girl to shelter in his flat from the rain. However, he discovers that there is something fishy about her…