About the Artist
Why I Paint
I think the best place to begin is by telling you why I paint.
I've always loved art. But for much of my life, the scientific and analytical side of my brain took the lead. My studies and career took me into academia and technology, and although I tried to keep creativity in my life, the demands of work, family and everyday life often pushed painting into the background.
Yet art was always there.
It remained a part of me that I felt deeply connected to, even during the years when I had little time to pick up a brush.
Over the last decade, life has brought challenges across many different areas. From health difficulties to caring for my elderly mother as her Alzheimer's progressed, alongside the pressures and uncertainties of work, I found myself navigating a period of significant change.
After spending decades building a career in academia and technology, I unexpectedly found myself without work for a time.
It was a difficult period—but, looking back, it also gave me something incredibly valuable: time.
Time to care for my mother as her needs increased.
And time to paint again.
After many years of painting in watercolour, I began exploring acrylics—and I fell in love with the medium. I painted almost every day, and gradually something that had been missing from my life began to return.
Painting brought me joy.
But it also became something much more than that.
Several years earlier, following a sudden illness, I lost the hearing in my right ear and experienced significant damage to my vestibular system. Recovery brought its own challenges, and art became an important part of my journey through them.
Painting gave me a place to focus my emotions, find moments of calm and process the experiences life had placed in front of me.
It became a source of comfort.
A form of therapy.
And ultimately, a way of healing.
The Landscapes That Inspire Me
My experiences inevitably find their way into my work.
I am deeply inspired by the extraordinary landscapes of Northern Ireland—the dramatic coastlines, expansive beaches, changing skies and mountains that have become part of my story.
Places such as the Causeway Coast and the Mourne Mountains hold profound meaning for me, shaped by cherished memories and a lifelong connection with their beauty.
But perhaps my greatest inspiration is the sea.
I'm fascinated by the way light dances across the water—the brief glimmers that appear against darker seas and skies.
For me, that light has become symbolic.
It represents hope.
The belief that even during the most difficult periods, there is always the possibility of brighter days ahead.
Many of my paintings explore this idea: the glimmer of light that can still be found in the dark waters we all sometimes face.
"The darkest night will end and the sun will rise."
— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Painting What I Feel
My work is not simply about painting a place as it looks.
It's about exploring why that place matters.
Each painting is born from a personal story, a moment of connection, a feeling I needed to express or a memory I wanted to preserve.
I work primarily in acrylic, creating expressive landscapes and seascapes that sit somewhere between representation and semi-abstraction. Through colour, texture and movement, I try to capture not only what I see, but what I feel when I'm standing in those places.
Creating art has been transformative for me.
It returned to my life at a time when I needed it most, and became an important part of finding my way forward.
Through my paintings, I hope to share some of that feeling with you.
A sense of peace.
A moment of calm.
A connection to a place.
And perhaps, even in difficult times, a small glimmer of hope.