Heirloom explores the theme of brokenness and draws on my interest in the natural world. Each piece is comprised of broken pieces of sand dollars. These strange and delicate shells are seldom found whole. The shells have been painted in Japanese sumi ink and the broken edges gilded with gold as an echo of the Japanese craft of kintsugi where broken objects are mended with gold to begin again. Heirloom was exhibited in Southwark Cathedral in June 2018 as part of the artist residency Broken Beauty.

Broken Beauty was a specially commissioned artist residency in Southwark Cathedral, London to mark the first anniversary of the London Bridge attack. This included a new site specific print installation composed of monoprints taken from the Sacristy door damaged in the attack together with prints from other parts of the cathedral damaged and worn over the centuries. Prints were gilded as an echo of the Japanese craft of Kintsugi where broken ceramics are ‘mended’ with gold, thus acknowledging rather than hiding from the past.

Quilt is a print installation on the theme of mourning. The piece was created for a group exhibition ‘World Turned upside down’ on the theme of the Beatitudes in 2017. This piece was created in response to Jesus’s saying: ‘Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.’ The quilt is made of men’s cotton hankerchiefs. Each square contains a fragile monoprint on tissue paper. Running through each print are gold stitches. Quilt was displayed in Southwark Cathedral in June 2018 as part of my artist residency: Broken Beauty.

A series of monoprints on tissue paper made in response to ‘holdfasts’, the dried ‘roots’ of kelp, washed up on Orkney beaches. The prints are based on close observation, echoing botanic drawings and the early cyanotypes of Anna Atkins in her albums of British Algae.

My individual prints are displayed in archive boxes and secured with entomology pins as if pinning these delicate organic forms.

Seaquilt is a print installation composed of a series of larger monoprints on a Holdfast design. First displayed in Morley Gallery in Lambeth and in Northlight Gallery in Stromness, Orkney in 2017.

This series of 4 paintings were inspired by the idea of coastal profiles and painted in situ in Orkney. Artists on board ship were an early form of navigational aid, sketching the coastline in order to record harbours and anchoring points. These sketches were narrow bands of detail, with no need for sky or sea to be recorded.

Each painting incorporates details from the coastal profile of Rousay, one of the Northern isles in Orkney.

Charcoal, pastels, oil on canvas.

A series of collagraphs and other monoprints on Somerset paper, bible paper and tracing paper made at Morley College print studio. The designs are inspired by natural forms found along the Westray coast in Orkney and from boulders gathered from a particular beach, Grobust that lies alongside a Neolithic site.

How do you document the wind? Strong winds are a frequent feature of living in Orkney. This series of photographs and painting began with a walk to Mae Sands beach on Westray. I threw a length of black ribbon into the bank of Marran grass that borders the beach. The ribbon was taken up by the wind and made its own script. The painting Improvisation plays with this idea of scripts and movement.

I am constantly testing new materials for printmaking and combinations of printmaking and hand stitching. Projects include ‘Semaphore’ a series of monoprints based on collagraphs on cotton. These individual prints combine printmaking with detailed hand embroidery. The design in based on a boulder found on Grobust beach, Westray.