Early environmental influences

I grew up in the Highlands of Scotland which literally rooted me into understanding nature’s influence on everything. There was an incredible freedom in my childhood that made play, exploration and the remote countryside like a world removed from the concrete of the city. A world of where an abandoned cottage or sheds waited to be investigated and reimagined again.

I was mainly brought up by my mum who was, and still is an oil painter. Although I knew I too would paint I sensed that my own painting would be more colourful and have a dramatic story. But before even that there were fantasies about being a zoologist, as I sketched, abstracted ‘cartooned’ many animal creatures. There wasn’t much to do in remote countryside except collect bugs and observe nature.

Aged 11, we moved to the South of England to start a new life. I was immediately struck by the wealth, mass consumption and careless disposal of goods. In my head I could always see the impact of one old tin in a beautiful stream, and it looked wrong. Where in the countryside could this rubbish go without polluting and disturbing it? From this point on I had concerns about the effects of mass consumption.

As I got older there were many twists, turns and fated events that led me to develop entire bodies of work for environmental/education purposes: paintings carried messages. I know a shift in values is needed in society, as the dominant species to have a spiritual approach to nature. Connection leading to respect or vice-versa is a sentiment close to the core message of my art. It is a heavy subject and although caring seems like a ‘gimmick’ by some companies I like to think of ways to bring people together that could be simple, free, fun and ultimately be developed into a new wave of respect. Running workshops really helps this as you’re taught about skills, being resourceful, accepting, less is more, sharing and about beauty of simplicity. Workshops are lessons in life. Right now, for the planet, we all need to learn.