About

I am a 50+ artist living in Scotland and I graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1981.  I studied Textiles and have worked in fashion design before returning to my love of drawing and painting.

I was born in Scotland but my father was from Delft in the Netherlands.  As a family we emigrated to Australia in the 1960s, returning to Europe two years later.  Travelling in my childhood has been inevitably enriching, but it has also resulted in a desire to discover more of Scotland.  It has also left me with a feeling that I am still looking for my home.  In a sense, that is what I am doing when I paint the Scottish landscape – I am trying to claim my homeland.

My father was a strong influence on my life and his outlook on life was deeply affected by his experience as a Concentration Camp survivor during the Second World War.  He educated me politically and he taught me to think – I am the philosopher’s daughter.

Creatively, I find myself in quite a challenging position.  I suffer from both agoraphobia and M.E.  How I cope with these dilemmas, I hope to share with you in these musings,  but, be patient – I am also dyslexic.

On fortunate days, when going outside is less difficult, I take the tools of my trade with me because I believe in recording the landscape from life.  I draw and paint in watercolours and oils – I am a plein-air painter.  Most days, I work in the studio where I use my outdoor work to create larger and more complete oils.  I also distill images of the landscape into abstract paper collages.  I will also paint the occasional still-life and portrait.  In this way, I have found methods to explore the landscape and pursue my creativity.

On days when I feel that the more traditional ways of working as a landscape painter are denied to me, I remember something that a close artist friend of mine once said to me – that I carry the landscape in my head.

I live with my Librarian husband Walter, my beautiful Scottish Deerhound Islay and an adorable thug of a cat, Sallochy.

Things that intrigue me –  clouds,  the dappled light on distant hills,  the cry of seagulls,  the flight of lapwings,  the sea on any day… and the plaintive call of curlews.