British birds and animals have always inspired my artwork. In particular I love familiar garden birds, like the gaggle of sparrows that live in the ivy at the front of the house or the blackbirds that seem to feel they own the garden. Waders such as Curlews, Redshanks and Oystercatchers and other seabirds also feature strongly. My husband Mark and I have a small wooden sail boat, so our summers are often spent on the Norfolk and Suffolk Coast. I always take a sketchbook on these trips and record the birds we see in scribbles, so that later in the studio I can develop them into more formal designs. I do not work directly from life but use a combination of drawing and imagination.
I live in the village of Wing in Rutland (the smallest county in the UK). My studio is at the bottom of the garden and houses all I need to make my work, including a recently acquired Rochat Albion press. The studio overlooks sheep fields surrounded by gentle sloping hills. It’s not a dramatic landscape but somehow a comforting one that feels like home.
