Paintings

I’ve been working with oils for over 20 years. I love their creamy opacity, their pliability, and their versatility. They can be applied in thin luminous layers or in thick impasto shapes. They are beautifully blendable, and can be both soft and subtle or sharp and bold. I especially love how well suited they are for the “alla prima” approach, which is working wet paint into wet paint all in one sitting.  As much experience as I have with oils, I feel like there is still so much to learn and the possibilities are infinite.

I found Tracey online about 10 years ago when she was writing her blog, Grumble Girl, and I was struck by a photo she posted of herself one day, so I got in touch and asked if I could paint her. I was in the early stages of establishing myself as a portrait painter, and was too shy to ask people to sit for me, so I worked mainly from photos, for practice. She was incredibly generous and supportive, which I desperately needed in those formative years.

My work has changed and evolved a lot since 2015, but I see how the seeds were planted in those early works and led me toward new pursuits in terms of colour and brushwork and subject matter — I’m still attracted to self-possessed women and am curious about how to convey their complexity, both visually and emotionally. 

In the past couple of years I’ve also done an extensive series of flowers, and now I’m interested in combining these two subjects. Recently I’d staged a bouquet of peonies and was taking some pictures when my younger daughter insinuated herself and insisted I paint her too — that’s “Loïe with Peonies.” I love how it came out, not least because she was so fiercely assertive about being in the scene. 

Interior Romantic
50x60cm, oil on canvas, 2025

Loïe with Peonies
50x50cm, oil on canvas, 2025

Palindrome
30×40 (x2), oil on canvas, 2025

Tori
50x60cm, oil on canvas, 2025

Moon of Jupiter
45x61cm, oil on canvas, 2025

Ania
50x60cm, oil on canvas, 2025