I am a semi-abstract landscape artist, and my work ranges from near realism to almost total abstraction, highly coloured to monochromatic. The inspiration and motivation behind my work is summed up well in a quote by a photographer I particularly like called Saul Leiter:

“I like it when one is not certain what one sees, when we do not know why the photographer has taken a picture and when we do not know why we are looking at it, all of a sudden we discover something that we start seeing. I like this confusion.”

In a similar vein, I found that the macro photographs that I have taken of old and weathered paintwork, especially on abandoned boats, you start seeing what you imagine to be landscapes, but they’re not there at all, they just appear to be, and very often reflect the landscape they are found in. Using photographs of these and the Scottish Highlands and Islands as a starting point and inspiration, I use squeegees, rollers and razor blades to reproduce that effect by layering up paint and removing it again, not copy to it, but use it as a reference point, working with ‘intentional accidents’ to enginer unexpected effects.

I am a self taught artist and have been working in WASPS studios in Selkirk since 2008.