The Secret Life of the Fabrics in My Paintings
How reclaimed textiles shape the textures of my seascapes
In my studio, before any colour meets the canvas, I reach for fabric.
Old linens, worn denim, vintage cotton, rough hessian — each piece has its own temperament, its own way of behaving under paint. And that personality is exactly what brings my shorelines to life.
I don’t use reclaimed textiles just for sustainability (though that matters deeply to me). I use them because they already hold stories — the quiet history of where they’ve been and who they’ve lived with. When they’re woven into my seascapes, their past becomes part of the coastline I’m creating.
Here are a few of the fabrics that show up in my work again and again:
Linen – the calm storyteller
Linen is steady, serene, beautifully grounded.
Paint sinks into its weave the way water sinks into sand, creating natural gradients and soft shoreline textures. It’s the fabric I turn to when I want the painting to start with peace.
Denim – the wild one
Denim arrives with attitude.
It frays dramatically, fights back under the palette knife, and forms incredible ridges — perfect for waves, spray, and the parts of the sea that refuse to behave. It brings movement and raw energy to the canvas.
Vintage Cotton – the keeper of memories
Old cottons tear in feathery, delicate shapes, becoming mist and sea spray in my work.
They carry nostalgia in their fibres, which is why they’re so powerful in commissions where personal fabrics — shirts, table linens, anything loved — are woven directly into the piece.
Raw Hessian – the architecture
Hessian is stubborn, structured, and wonderfully rugged.
It gives me the weight, the foundations — cliffs, deep shadows, the darker bones of a painting. It shapes the landscape from underneath.
Want to see how I use them in my paintings? Watch the video below showing how i used an offcut from a Brides wedding dress to incorporate into her wedding day commissioned piece…
Why I keep returning to reclaimed materials
My background in fashion taught me how textiles behave; life taught me how easily they’re discarded. Giving them a second life on a canvas feels meaningful — a merging of material memory and coastal storytelling.
When people look closely at my paintings, they often spot the fabric only after a moment. But once they see it, they can’t unsee it. The textile becomes part of how the artwork breathes.
These aren’t just materials to me.
They’re collaborators — shaping the tide line, whispering their histories, and adding something real and soulful to every shoreline I paint.
Gem
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