Among the great passions of my life, two that pertain to my current body of work are the need for creating, and the love of exploring the natural world. For as long as I can remember, I have found joy playing in rivers, the sea, in woods, and on mountains.
It has, therefore, only been a very natural progression for me to start to paint the beauty of the English Lake District when I moved with my family to the area in 2020. As a Christian, I believe God made the wonderful things of the world for us to enjoy and to reflect something of his glory. The Lake District is certainly one of these truly beautiful things. I have been captivated by the splendour of the English Lakes and have sought to celebrate this beauty in a series of works exploring light, reflection, and grandeur. The places I have chosen to paint are all specific places where I have spent hours enjoying the environment before me. Whether that is through wild swimming, mountain climbing, scrambling, paddle boarding, or simply by sitting in the sun and basking in the landscape.

Through my painting practise, I enjoy the challenge of pushing my technical skill and mastery of the craft. This has recently been in seeking to visually describe the reflections and translucency of water with light hitting it, or the varieties of rich textures in vegetation against the smoothness of a still lake. To recreate these aspects, I have spent time experimenting with the marks I use and the ways I can manipulate the paint on the surface of my pieces.

The places I have found to be inherently beautiful in the area where I live, I have sought to share with others through my paintings. My great hope is that as the viewer spends time in front of my work, through my own practise of careful focus and attention to detail, they are transported to the specific times and places I spent enjoying the scene, and they too can soak in the beauty and splendour of the place. Alfred Wainwright said, 'The hills have a power to soothe and heal which is their very own... and no one ever came down from the hills without feeling in some way refreshed, and the better for his experience.” I am seeking an echo of this refreshment to be ever present in my work.