I have always had a love of natural landscapes from the New Forest where I grew up, to the Peak District where I was so lucky to live for a while, from the Scottish mountains which I love to visit, to the Pennines where I now live. I marvel their seeming great expanse and how they change with the seasons.

I’ve also had a love of art and design since I was young, from dreams of being a fashion designer in my early teens, to an interest in interior design which still persists. Throughout my life there has always been a pad with designs, illustrations, ideas and doodles somewhere near me.

The opportunity to draw on both of these passions didn’t happen until later in my life. I studied Environmental Science, an opportunity that added a respect of ecology and sphagnum moss to my quiver, but realised I would much rather create scenes for people to escape into rather than create data that showed how many habitats had been destroyed. So I did just that.

I set up a small studio in my attic here in Hebden Bridge, which I still work from, and I chose Lino print as my first medium as I really love the mindful process of carving and mark making. I drew upon my feelings of being in these wild spaces and the sense of freedom they give me and I began to create. As my practice has developed it has grown to include wood engraving and watercolour.

I have been really lucky to live in an area that values art and artists and to have had the opportunity to exhibit and sell my art here and use that knowledge to go on and exhibit in places such as Fronteer Gallery in Sheffield and Holy Trinity Church in Leeds.

I look forward to continuing to enjoy being in the natural environment with big skies and intriguing plants that inspire me and using them to create moments to escape into.