Originally from Glasgow, I graduated from Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art (2001), and the James Watt School of Engineering, Glasgow (2016). As an artist I exhibited in galleries both nationally and internationally working primarily in large scale sculptural installation, and, on public commissions engaging the local communities where works were to be installed.  As an engineer I worked as a lecturer and ran a research group in the development of low-cost biotechnologies for off-grid energy recovery from water treatment processes. 

In 2022, following a short lived infection, I developed Long Covid and ME/CFS.  I began painting as part of my recovery during which I often lived in isolation for extended periods of time. Equidistant from the sea, the forest and a still, dark reservoir, each of which I visited as often as energy allowed, my paintings were made at home on the many days I was unable to go outside. With memories of sea, reservoir and forest in mind and a view of the ever changing skies above them, the page provided a place for play, exploration, frustration, spontaneity and joy that were otherwise often lacking from a previously full and busy life. The marks made were meditative, responsive and typically either flowed without plan or followed arbitrary rules since forgotten. 

For Cowal Open Studios I will show a selection of paintings and printed silk scarves alongside the work of Walter Newton, a fellow GSA graduate, at the POP Shop on Hillfoot Street, Dunoon. The framed works shown are a small selection from a collection of many. My painting practice and recovery journey are ongoing.  I’d like to thank my partner, friends and the POP shop for support in exhibiting the work and invigilating the show.