Why I’m Talking More About Material

For years, I’ve described my work as peaceful. Calm. Inspired by the sea.

And it is.

But recently, I realised something important.

Peace is the outcome of my work - not the origin of it.

The origin is material.

Selection of recycled textiles and fabrics ready to craft into a painting.

Before I became a full-time artist, I spent two decades in the fashion industry as a buyer. I worked with fabric daily. I saw production cycles. I understood the pace of consumption. And over time, I began to see the environmental cost of it.

When I returned to painting, I didn’t consciously set out to make “sustainable art.” I simply began working with what felt natural to me - textiles. Salvaged cloth. Surfboard fragments. Materials with a past.

Only later did I realise that my practice was responding directly to my former career.

Offcuts from a local Eco Swimwear brand, ready to be transformed into texture.

I don’t just paint seascapes.

I transform discarded textiles into textured coastal landscapes - reclaiming material that once belonged to a system of excess, and repositioning it within something enduring.

The ocean is still my subject. Stillness is still part of the experience.

But the deeper thread is transformation.

And that feels like clarity for my path ahead, both in my business and for my evolving exploration in my paintings.

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