As an artist I am continuously looking at the landscape around me in terms of composition, enjoying the vast space in the changing natural light. I am particularly excited by shape and form, both natural and synthetic, and how they sit alongside each other. I am often intrigued by the way the same view can rapidly change depending on the weather, time of day and the season – altering the emotional response of the viewer. When the light softens the tonal values can become blended, creating a feeling of calm but intense direct light can create stronger shadow, adding more drama.

My current body of work is of views from the Grand Western Canal – somewhere that I walk regularly – and is a constant source of inspiration. There are so many different forms and textures, and I wanted to capture the vast, man-made structures of the canal bridges sitting on the banks against the soft textures of the foliage – all creating their own dancing reflections on the water.

Working in charcoal allows me to concentrate on the form and the tone of the composition while experimenting with texture. I prefer to use a mixture of traditional charcoal sticks along with charcoal powder – applied with a brush – or liquid charcoal, sometimes adding gum Arabic or granulation medium. I create highlights using various types of erasers which allows me to achieve sharp edges or softened tone, depending on which I use. I generally work from photographs that I have taken while out exploring, playing with composition later and building a final piece of work from sketches.