Tell us about your journey in becoming an artist. Did you study art or are you self taught?

After a Degree in Visual Art, I travelled widely throughout the British Isles painting the places I visited. I then completed a PGCE and embarked on a teaching career before settling down in East Anglia where I now divide my time between educational work, studio practice and being in the landscape.

Where did you spend your childhood years? Has it influenced your career?

When I was a child, I valued very highly the time I spent outside. The time I spent in the landscape was when I was happiest. Favourite places (mountains, woods or coast), I considered sanctuary.

Do certain landscapes and scenes inspire your work, and do you have some favourite spots that you return to?

Our response to landscape is often emotional - there are places we yearn for when we are happy or sad. Places where we feel at peace. We often daydream about returning to our special places. I try to recreate these places in my paintings.

What mediums do you like to use and what particular quality do they bring to your work?

With oil pastels I have the freedom to be spontaneous - I prefer to work directly with my hands rather than a brush. I enjoy building up many layers of the medium, creating texture, which is then added to, etched into or removed with a palette knife. I start with light colours and gradually introduce darker layers and as I remove the outer layers the lighter base is revealed. So in this sense I work back to the light. The process and technique is what defines my work.

Does the time of day influence your painting? And if so, how does it affect it?

I simply paint when I can in the daytime. Life and other commitments mean I cannot paint as often as I would like so when I do have the time I make the most of it. I prefer the lightest part of the day and sit with my back to the window so the maximum amount of light reaches the board I am working on.

Tell us a bit more about your creative process….

I will often have a view that I am obsessed with which I am trying to recreate. I use photographs as an initial prompt simply to remind me and then I put the photographs away and see what happens. I like to paint similar, favourite views over and over again and each time they express something different which fascinates me. No two days are the same and no two paintings.

How does the size and dimension of a painting influence the work?

My work is on the smaller size as the medium I use requires framing. With my smallest paintings I am more experimental than with my larger works.

What are the most satisfying aspects of creating an image for you?

It is at the point when suddenly the place I am trying to recreate emerges as if from nowhere.

Do you have a favourite season?

Autumn is my favourite season as there is always that feeling of trying to make the most of the sun and the light while they are still with us. That said, Spring comes an extremely close second with the promise of summer ahead.

What artist’s work do you particularly like, those that have inspired you, and do you have an idea of why or how they inspire you?

I enjoy hearing the stories behind art and why artists paint the way they do.

What activity do you enjoy other than painting? How do you unwind?

I spend as much time as I can outside in the landscapes that I love. For me now, here in Suffolk, it is up on the heaths with the gorse and the heather, with the knowledge that the sea is not far away.