TC62

 I started art as therapy during my decline through kidney failure. After gaining a 2:1 fine art degree from CARDIFF SCHOOL OF ART, my health declined further and I spent the next few years mostly in hospital. Now after a successful kidney transplant I have resumed my art practice.My illness has radically influenced my art and I have become absorbed by the world of trees. They became an important constant for me throughout my bad times, where everything around me changed or left, the trees in my garden and on the Graig mountain where I live remained. They continued their earthly cycle.... Being reborn each spring....From death to life, from darkness to colour... Something that reflects my journey too.Sacred trees with healing powers are found in every culture and age. They provide air, timber, fuel, food, shelter, medicine and beauty. Without trees we could not live. They were seen as a gift from the earth goddess and a source of her continuing healing of those who come to the tree. Many of the drugs I depended on come from trees, and they hold such a special place in our lives, even Buddha found enlightenment beneath a "Botree" and created the foundations of one of the worlds largest religions.  Consumerism and greed have generated mass waste, which is regarded as worthless and often rejected. I take that waste... from old cards to Sunday supplements, unwanted end line rolls of wallpaper to craft paper and everything in between and use it as my paint to create my art. So the worthless becomes art, and what was rejected is given new life. Again, this transformation is like my journey, the precious kidney from a victim of a road traffic accident has given me back my life, and I too have been reborn.My kidney failure caused peripheral neuropathies affecting the function of my hands, so like Matisse, after his illness, I found the medium of paint impossible and have plunged myself into the world of collage. What was a negative has now become a positive and I enjoy working in that medium with its unpredictable palates.Throughout my art I emphasize the horizontal and vertical. Nature is very horizontal and vertical, from horizons to mountain peaks, from the flatness of water to the tallness of trees. The collision between the planes creates such beauty. All these elements combine for me to produce my art and influence my compositions.