These paintings were created in response to particular people, places and spaces. I have worked on commissioned paintings for private clients, commercial spaces and hotels, including large-scale works created for specific interiors. Each commission begins with a conversation about the space and what the painting needs to bring to it. Scale, colour, atmosphere and movement become part of the process, while the work remains recognisably mine.
Colour is never static in my paintings. It moves, collides, recedes and resurfaces, creating a sense of energy and tension across the surface. These paintings are less concerned with describing a particular place or object and more with what colour, gesture and structure can evoke. I build and disrupt the surface, allowing fragments of earlier marks to remain visible as the painting develops. The result is work that is energetic, layered and open to interpretation. There is usually a point where the painting stops being about what I intended and begins to become something of its own.
Some paintings begin with an image, a shape or a structure that carries a meaning beyond what is immediately visible. These works grew from my interest in symbols, spiritual ideas and the ways we make sense of what cannot always be explained. I use colour, form and recurring visual elements to suggest rather than define meaning. The paintings are not intended to provide a single answer. They leave room for association, memory and personal interpretation. For me, the symbol is often the beginning of a conversation rather than the conclusion.
Some paintings begin with the human figure, but the figure is rarely the whole story. I am interested in what can be suggested through posture, gesture, colour and the space around a person. These works explore the things we carry through life: memory, relationships, experience, desire, loss, joy and the parts of ourselves that remain largely unseen. I am less interested in telling a complete story than in leaving enough space for something personal to emerge. A gesture, a glance or a particular arrangement of colour can sometimes say more than a fully explained narrative.
I have always been drawn to animals for their presence, character and quiet strength. These paintings are not intended as scientific studies or literal portraits of wildlife. I am interested in the animal as a living presence: its movement, temperament, power and place within the landscape. Colour and expressive mark-making allow the character of each animal to emerge, sometimes with humour, sometimes with something more elemental. The paintings are observations of wildness, but also of the particular personalities I find in the animals themselves.
The Moona Lisa paintings grew from a period when cows became my subjects, each with a character and presence of its own. With a nod to the familiar world of art and a sense of humour all their own, these works gave me room to play with expression, colour and personality. From Mooo-na Lisa to Mooommy, the titles are part of the fun. But beneath the humour is a genuine interest in the individuality of these animals, their watchful expressions and their wonderfully unapologetic presence. This was a distinct chapter in my painting practice, and one I remember with affection.
I am drawn to those moments when light transforms a landscape, softening edges and bringing certain colours into focus while others recede. These paintings explore atmosphere, distance and the shifting relationship between land, sky and light. Some begin with a recognisable place; others move further into abstraction. I allow colour and layered marks to suggest what is felt as much as what is seen, leaving space for the viewer to bring their own memories and associations to the work. What interests me is not simply the landscape itself, but the feeling that remains after the moment has passed.
These small paintings grew out of my travels through Namibia, capturing the character of its towns, buildings and passing glimpses of everyday life. Working on a smaller scale encouraged me to notice details that might otherwise have slipped by: the colour of a wall, the shape of a street, the particular atmosphere of a place. Each painting is a small record of somewhere encountered along the way, carrying a little of the place beyond the moment itself.
