My passion is for portraiture and figurative art; I started developing skills in realistic drawing and black and white photography from an early age and feel this primed me for the style of photo-realistic, monochromatic oil paintings I have chosen to create. It seemed a natural progression to paint in black and white because of my good understanding of light and tone. I prefer to work on a large scale and often place the point of view for the audience from dynamic angles, and more often than not, extremely close-up on their features. I believe all of these elements encourage the viewer to see the often overlooked aspects of the face. I have tackled subjects such as emotion, identity, memory, reflection, old age and one of my most well received projects looking into the similarities/dis-similarities of twins, in which I produced a collection of diptychs showing twins in exactly the same pose. I am currently working on the subject of disability; I want to help dispel the uneasiness often evoked by an abnormal body by proving that ‘different’ can be as beautiful as ‘normal’. Complementary to my course I have been invited to exhibit my work regularly over the past four years and have secured a number of sales and commissions as a result. All of this I have achieved before finishing my degree which I am set to complete in 2009.

Personal information:

Born 1977, Taunton, Somerset, England.
Relocated to Plymouth in 2001


Art education:

2004 – 2009 Plymouth College of Art and Design
B.A. (Hons) in Fine Art
2003 – 2004 Plymouth College of Further Education
Access to higher education
2001 – 2003 Estover Community College
Diploma in art and design foundation
2000 - Somerset College of Art and Technology
Short course in black and white photography
1995 – 1996 Somerset College of Art and Technology
Art and Design Foundation


Exhibitions:

2009 'The Primrose Foundation Art Exhibition' Delamore Gallery, Cornwood.
2008 'The Holburne Portrait Prize' Chapel Row Gallery, Bath.
2008 'The Naked Truth' Artspaces gallery, Totnes.
2007 Group show, Art and Soul gallery, Plymouth.
2007 Solo show, Theatre Royal, Plymouth.
2006 Affordable Art Fair Autumn collection, Battersea Park, London.
2006 Solo show, Gallery 22, Ashburton.
2006 Celebrating Dyslexia exhibition, Viewpoint Gallery, Plymouth.
2006 PCAD showcase, Theatre Royal, Plymouth.
2005 PCAD group show, Saltram House, Plymouth.
2004 PCFE end of year show, Goschen centre, Plymouth.
2003 Estover College end of year show, Plymouth.


Achievements:

Finalist for 'The Holburne Portrait Prize' 2008.
Made it to the final day of judging for the BP portrait award 2008.
Regional finalist of ITV's 'A Brush with Fame' in 2005.


Agent:

Annie Bowie, Artspaces, Totnes,
Website: http://www.artspaces.co.uk Email: info@artspaces.co.uk