Artist Statement:

I use my art to find perspective in my own life, my past, my fears and what delights me. My art-making is often inspired by conversations with people around me. Since teaching occupies alot of my time it is no surprise that a lot of my subject matter and exploration of media is fed by the research and experiences I undertake when on a quest to inspire my students.

My subject matter in the last five years has focussed on trees photographed in Durban. These trees have been populated by bits of my jewellery, my pets, animals, birds, people and "quotations" of other artists' work - in particular Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait. My favourite brush is a watercolour rigger - it has long bendy hairs and it creates unpredictable marks. I embellish my paintings with decorative and often lacy patterns. This process sets up a contrast in terms of subject matter and texture and also sets up spatial tension and ambiguity. I layer thin glazes of colour enhancing transparency that suggests shifting and merging space. The resulting tension that is set up between the three dimensional forms and the two dimensional surface (pattern, obvious mark making) is fascinating. My colour palette tends towards a cool range - I am most comfortable when painting in blues, greens and browns. Most of my under-painting and initial drawing is done in indigo blue which appears black until observed close up.

The artist, Paula Swisher, encapsulates how I feel about the art making experience: "I believe that we attempt to make sense of our experiences by turning them into internal stories in which we investigate, rearrange, and reassemble the disorder and contradictions of our experiences. Most likely, it is the act of reconstructing that allows us, for the time being, to struggle, navigate, and overcome."