When Phil and I first came to visit relatives in Weymouth in 2017 we had breakfast in the Oasis cafe and saw not only the beautiful paintings on display but also the vibrant Artwey posters. I thought that if I ever lived here I would find out a lot more and hope to join...
Art for me started when I was very young with doodling all over anything I could find and being told off frequently for it. Living in Guernsey, my friends and I used to collect seaweed, shells and stones to make huge patterns on the sand. As the waves pounded, our work returned to nature so we could start again another time with a blank, sandy 'canvas'.
In the last year of primary school I entered a national painting competition with the theme ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ It was 1965 and the space race was in full swing. It totally captured my imagination and my painting depicted me as pilot of a spaceship heading for Saturn!
The next time I really drew (apart from nearly constant doodling, which I still do) was when I joined the wonderful Halifax Art Society in 2005. What a great group of talented, friendly people I met. I learnt so much and in particular I found out what I really liked to do within art. With such enthusiastic help, and the inspiration of the work of Hebden's Bridge's Kate Lycett, I drew copiously in permanent ink. Combined with the vibrancy of water-based dyes (introduced to me by another HAS friend) I developed my own style. The colours of these dyes are fabulous and they blend so beautifully together.
At the end of 2018, we moved to Weymouth to be near our family and I was so pleased to join Artwey!

My subjects are wide-ranging and include townscapes, fantasy, real places, beneath the sea and abstracts, to name but a few. I also work in acrylics, sometimes with an abstract twist. I really like to use the paint thickly on large canvasses.

You can see more of my work on my Artwey online profile and at www.summerlandsart.co.uk

If you managed to get to the end - thank you for reading!