My 2004 paintings in oil and watercolour stem from a visit, with a Kent County Council cultural exchange, to Amritsar in northern India, as the guests of BBK College.

I was asked to give two workshops and a seminar, but also had the opportunity of watching the college’s and associated schools’ displays of traditional Punjabi and Rajasthani dances.
I made numerous drawings of these, which I have preserved as nearly as possible in the paintings to express the vitality and exuberance of the young dancers.

Much of my work is metaphorical. A recent series of paintings was based on studies and photographic material of the building of the high-speed railway from Ashford, Kent to London, linking up the Channel Tunnel; a new path cut unerringly through clay, sandstone and chalk, brought to light for only a few months; then plunges underground, through layers laid down in darkness millenia ago, as dreams reveal our patterns of a lifetime.

Previous themes have concerned man-made tracks, the last days of a local bakery, and a sculpture installation and group of monoprints entitled ‘Riverwalker’ dealing with the theme of plunging beneath the surface, in this case allowing the ‘fishes’ of inspiration to flow into one’s head. Thus there have been elements of time, movement and the subconscious throughout.

Future work: A Bestiary and other symbolic subjects in print and mixed media, from spontaneous gouaches and poems, which may also yield larger works in oils.




Bangra Boys Dance (Oil)



CTRL Lazer Beam (Oil)




Rail Link Breakthrough (oil)




Harnyanvi & Tabla Player (Watercolour)



CTRL Roadheader (Digital Image/Oil)



Oldbury - Sunstripes (Watercolour)



Marriage Dance -Punjab (Oil)



Prosperity Punjabi Dance (Oil)



Caterpillar (Monoprint)



Flutterby (Monoprint)



Frog - Elusive Inspiration (Monoprint and Text)



Stargazers (Portland Stone)



Bestiary - Title Page (Woodblock and Text)



How doth the busy little bee (Monoprint)



Owl (Monoprint)



Strange Crafty Fish (Monoprint)


Training
1947-53 Leicester College of Art
Reading University: National Dip. in Design (Painting), Art Teacher’s Diploma
1954-8 Falmouth School of Art (PT) NDD (Printed Textiles)
1952-91 Teaching Art and Ceramics in Secondary schools (11-18)
1991-97 Kent Institute of Art &Design (PT) BA Hons Fine Art. Dissertation on ‘Art in the National Curriculum ‘
2003 Workshops in Colour and Ceramics at BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar.
2005 Extended workshop in Expressive Tone Composition and Process at BBK


EXHIBITIONS & COMMISSIONS
2004-5 With VIR-Art at Maidstone Library Gallery, including a drop-in drawing workshop.
‘Midsummer Madness’ at Maidstone Museum, with a performance choreographed on my oil paintings of Indian dance.
2004 One-person, Meopham Library Gallery, including Indian dance watercolours.
1995-2003 Group Shows with VIRUS/VIR-Art: Maidstone informal venues and Ramsgate, all including workshops; Dartford Library Gallery.
2002 Stone-carving commission for Quaker Meeting House garden, Maidstone.
1997-2000 Community Art Projects: YMCA Children’s House external mural ‘Cats in a Landscape’, working with 9-10 year-olds;
Two collage panels with teen-age patients at Gatland House Children and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Maidstone: ‘Gardens’ and ‘Seascape’.
1998 Crawford Gallery, off Baker Street; St Martin’s Crypt, Trafalgar Square (groups)
1995, ’85 Maidstone Library Gallery one-person shows
1986 Gallery International, Cape Town
1959 Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition
1958-65 One-person shows in London Woodstock Gallery; venues in North of England; Paintings, prints, sculptures in private collections.


Price: Phone / E-Mail       # 3