My paintings use the surfaces, textures and colours of domestic spaces to try to describe the very visceral, bittersweet experiences of longing, loss and nostalgia that certain domestic objects and images can provoke.

 

The surfaces are very tough but tactile; shiny, poured paint contrasts with rough, carved lines or with scratched layers exposing the board below. The board is often drilled with multiple holes or repeatedly sliced through with a jig saw.

 

Sometimes found objects are used in the work or collage is used in conjuction with oil paint . The surfaces have the old, worn presence of neglected interiors, rusted shop signs or once-loved objects now languishing in the attic.

 

Clouds have made their way into the work as ironic symbols of domestic bliss, as a child draws a house, with the sun and a cloud and a bird. But they also serve as omens of discomfort, hanging heavily, or filled with eyes or spy-holes which monitor their subjects.

 

The work is usually presented as rectangular or square boards but cut-out shapes, such as cloud or house forms, also feature. Some pieces have moved off the support altogether to become sculptures made from paint.

 

The work is personally grounded and uses naive style imagery to express the Home's many functions as a personal and cultural artefact. It is a primitive, protective shelter, a tribal headquarters, a repository of memory, a symbol of status, class and culture and a school of How to Be. In these works, the Home nurtures while it restricts, protects while it confines.