A crackle, a pop of colour. Craziness, then stillness. Flat and choppy. Free-fall, then harmony.

These new paintings are about the space beyond the landscape. They are about the unknown and the unrecognisable, but they are also about the familiar; the suggestion of a horizon, a still sea or a mountain top. The paintings are because of the landscape, not of the landscape. They are about energy, and the pace, rhythm and joy of life.

The works have been created over an extended period of time, drawing on sketchbook pieces, moments spent in the landscape and inspiration from an eclectic playlist of music, from classical, to jazz, to folk. I have painted, drawn and collaged my responses to the beautiful, dramatic and ever-changing landscape of West Wales that I love. I spend a lot of time generating my own language of marks using different tools and found objects such as sticks, driftwood and sponges. I use ‘sound mapping’ to create different sorts of marks and fill sketchbook after sketchbook full of ideas that eventually find their way into my work. In the studio I work with music playing and my paint brush responds to the pace and rhythm, my marks change as the tune moves along.

Each painting is a specific response to a moment in time and is a combination of contrasts. Colourful, bold, raw, messy, clean, scratchy, scribbly and swishy. In some there are words, a bit like graffiti, taken from my Lone Wanderings writings. My words etched onto the landscape, words that become marks that are almost tattooed into the surface. Every painting, big or small encapsulates my memories, my feelings and emotions, and each one has a special title which has emerged as the painting has come to life.