Artist Statement 

I am a visual artist from Kingston Upon Hull, exploring my connection to particular places, especially those important to me, and memories from my childhood through painting, drawing and printmaking.
Currently, my practice revolves around painting, printmaking and drawing images of my Grandad’s sheds from his allotments. Working with multiple medias, often in small series, I am able to capture the many small structures my Dad and Grandad built over the years. This body of work is a visual representation one of my fondest memories I had had with specific members of my family. One of memos vivid memories of being on the allotment was spending time with my Dad, Grandad and their friends, with me being the only child there. Now that my Grandad has passed away, all of the work he did, particularly with the small structures he made have outlived him. I see the buildings as memories in themselves, which made me want to make these the main inspiration for my current work. 
Using a combination of painting, printmaking and drawing has allowed me to capture the structures in a number of ways. The etchings (printmaking) and the drawing allowed me to fully explore texture, and detail in the chosen structures. I was able to translate all of the details by mark making, shading lines and tone, which is possible in both of those mediums. Using these mediums also made me focus on capturing the miss-matched, broke and often organic aesthetic that make-shift structures have. This, coupled with a monochromatic colour scheme, creates a high contrast, high detail look.
On the other hand, the paintings provide an alternative viewpoint of the sheds which focuses on texture, colour and detail. Building up thin layers of oil paint, I am able to capture the sheds in their likeness, making the relationship between the colour and texture very important. This is something I am constantly trying to develop; how I am able to apply the right colours to the board to depict the aesthetic of the shed. 
Ultimately, my work aims to represent a childhood memory the I hold very dear to me. As well as this, it aims to highlight the importance of green spaces, allotments and crucial community services such as allotment associations in society. Through this work I have been able to research about the importance of green spaces in urban areas, and the health benefits of such spaces.This research has broadened my current work out further, to really explore and highlight social need and issues surrounding the lack of green spaces, allotments and limited knowledge about healthy eating, particularly in urbanised areas. 
In the past, I have done a variety of work, most notably being a project on urban landscapes. I was trying to create a sense of familiarity in places that are seemingly unfamiliar once put together. I used photography, post production editing and painting to achieve a series of large scale surreal paintings. This project allowed me to experiment with a variety of mediums, as well as working with mediums I was not as strong at. I used oil paint, photography, gesso, acrylic and household paints throughout the duration of the project. I feel that this project ultimately informed where I needed to go next creatively, and the current body of work reflects this.