My process is organic and adapts according to what I am painting and the medium I'm using. Sometimes, I will roughly sketch out a basic composition straight to canvas or paper and work on that. Or, if doing a composite painting, sketch or trace the different elements I want in my painting and work out a composition. Once satisfied with that, I use a grid method to transfer image to the canvas and then build on the image by layering colours, tone and shading to create a 3D effect on a 2D surface. When I’m creating a landscape or a still life for example, I instinctively paint the object directly onto the canvas or paper, without any preliminary drawings, using underpainting with a neutral colour as a guide to the composition. Then, as usual, I work on that image with layers of paint to develop it into a finished piece. 

However, it's the ‘happy accidents’ where I make a mark or produce a particular effect unintentionally and can’t remember how I did it that makes the process of painting or drawing so exciting and exhilarating. I will occasionally abandon traditional forms of perspective and veer away from perfect symmetry in my work, if I think the composition and the message of the painting requires it. Instead, I prefer to concentrate on precise and expressive brushwork and powerful, detailed images. My pieces are sensitive renditions that are striking through the use of colour, form, line, and texture. I apply paint using the impasto technique, adding and removing until a balance is reached which creates a palimpsest effect showing how the piece is developed. 

I use a similar approach to drawing where an image is drawn, erased, and redrawn many times before completion. I find painting the negative spaces around my subject most effective in getting a verisimilitude. Through my work I aim to make an image that is striking from a distance yet still rewards scrutiny up close. When creating large pieces, I like to delineate my forms with clarity using hard lines and defined form. I employ loose, expressive brushstrokes and striking colours giving my work a sense of drama and movement. By contrast when creating smaller pieces, my technique is to use purposeful, intricate brushwork, subtle tonal variations and soft colour combinations.  

I experiment with different mediums because I believe that working in a single medium is restrictive to my artistic process as each idea manifests in its own individual style, requiring a different mediums. The majority of my paintings are in oil and acrylic though I love using charcoal and chalk pastels because of their powdery texture and the ease of blending colours to create tone and definition. One of my favourite mediums is Gouache which is an exciting mix between watercolour and acrylic and works well in creating figurative work depicting social subjects. A common thread in my paintings is the use of bold, vibrant colour and light and dark tones giving them a solid, earthy feeling. The colours which recur in my work are Green - the colour of nature and significant because it is calming, symbolising nurture, growth, positivity; Blue because it is uplifting and fresh; Yellow, the colour of happiness and solidarity and Purple because it signifies spirituality, peace and regality to lift the mood above the ordinary every day.