Since being very young I've enjoyed drawing and painting. At school we were encouraged to paint murals which told  stories.  A small group of us were privileged  to spend break-times in the art room instead of outdoors. What an incentive to paint! I enrolled at the  local technical college eager to be an 'art teacher'!  Luckily I was placed on a Foundation Art Course. We had some brilliant tutors including Malcolm Friar who now paints seascapes in Southport, Charles Prosser who adored Bonnard and Mr. Wood who ran the Grundy  Art Gallery in Blackpool. Foundation Art was  illuminating, time-consuming, experimental and wonderfully creative. It  gave me a good practical grounding in a wide range of art subjects, including art history. I continued my art education at Gloucestershire College of Art in Cheltenham specialising in fashion /textiles. Not a good choice I discovered. Most fashion graduates worked in sweat shops for small wages.  Fortunately, I was offered a job designing shoes in splendid surroundings in Somerset.

I always knew that one day I would paint again. A long spell art teaching followed, which fuelled this desire. However, on leaving education, I started a small  creative business and became involved in craft. A good ten years later, now it's time to  paint. It is the  hardest thing I've ever done - so much scope . Paint is my passion - it's application and expression.  I like to work over  images to increase the  chaos. This technique incorporates  texture and pattern  into the image and unexpected accidents, which I really enjoy..  I paint quickly and loosely. Much of my work is  painted over or altered in some way and never really finished!