The importance of text

Text has always played an important part in my work but recently I have used it more and more, often becoming an illustration or image in itself. I am continuing to use text and am particularly interested in hand rendered typography.

Sketchbooks or Reflective Journals...or something else all together...

Initially my sketchbooks started out as reflective journals and were a space where I could reflect on the work I had created. It quickly became apparent that  these sketchbooks went beyond simple reflections and actually became an integral part of my work. I have always used sketchbooks within all of my work but slowly my sketchbooks have actually become my work. I feel they are spaces where I can be completely honest and document the mundane nature of everyday life. This is a recurrent feature in my work. I am interested in the ordinary becoming extraordinary and looking at everyday life in a different way.

My sketchbooks form the bulk of my work and I fill them in obsessively. I'm not sure whether sketchbooks is the right term for them as they are, in my eyes, completed pieces of work in their own right.

Birley Gallery exhibition

As usual I was left feeling disappointed following the University exhibition. This usually happens when displaying my own work for others to see. I enjoyed creating my sets of 9 drawings of everyday objects and displaying them as little families of objects. There are many meanings to the work but I suppose I don't want them to be known to everyone that views it. I like the work to be viewed as it is. My sketchbooks hold all my true thoughts, feelings and ideas behind my work but the fact that they are closed and must be opened by the viewer makes them feel safe places within which to do this.