Whilton Arts Community

Creativity has been in my life from those formative days growing up on the edge of the Yorkshire Pennines. Rugged and wild landscapes with towns and villages nestled in amongst the valleys. Blackened, quarried sandstone buildings. Rows of terraced housing, often with their distinctive first floor windows maximising the light for home textile workers and huge, noisy, textile mills straddling the rivers and valley sides with nature trying to reclaim her place at every opportunity in each nook & cranny. A fertile, inspirational backdrop from which the threads of my art practice are drawn.

An art foundation course at West Surrey followed school with a 3 year textile design course successfully completed after that. Family life and a move to Northamptonshire quickly followed and the art took a pause for a while. Courses in watercolour and drawing reignited my creativity along with very rewardingly retaking my Art A-level at Daventry Tertiary College where I also sold my first painting. Always a huge boost for any aspiring artist! 

Engaging with other artists and groups broadened my network of fellow artists and I still gain huge enjoyment and benefit from observing and talking to other creative people. I have participated in exhibitions, Town & County, Wellingborough FPAA, Kettering Open Exhibition & NROS gaining both awards & prizes for my work. ‘Journey Into Light Exhibition’ at the Alfred East Gallery in Kettering, alongside fellow artists Belinda Collett and Alison Bull, was a hugely challenging but thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Art encourages observation and it is this which drives my practice. Colour, texture, pattern and form are interwoven in my creative pieces. Process is the driver of change and new discoveries. Never a purist in any discipline but constantly trying different techniques alongside creative use of materials to achieve the effects I am looking for. 

When life in general and my garden (another constantly changing source of inspiration) don’t drag me away from my creativity, I pursue my own art, as well as tutoring workshops within the county. I currently lead a regular art group within the village of Whilton. Art is challenging, sometimes frustratingly so, but totally worth it when you have those golden moments. At times it can also be great therapy!