I realised I had talent as an artist after winning a local art competition when I was just seven; and, on holiday in Italy at age eleven, was commissioned to replace a wooden wall painting of Madonna and child which had burned during street celebrations.

After leaving school at 15 with no qualifications, a string of secretarial jobs which I hated (including training for the GPO as a telephonist), I married in 1967 at the tender age of 17, having become engaged on my sixteenth birthday. We had three wonderful sons and in order to keep up with all my mens’ needs, I worked from home. Over the next 35 years I spent nearly all the money I earned on buying my own publishing equipment and produced camera ready work for local publishers and organisations. The rat-race of publishing finally took its toll and in 2005 I decided enough was enough. My secret desire had always been to paint professionally, so, though self-taught, I took the plunge and turned professional artist in March 2005. I spent my life savings to buy the latest equipment (of the day!), including a large format professional printer, so that I could produce my own limited edition prints and other saleable products in my own studio.

I have always painted in oils for a hobby, but in 2003 delved into botanical painting using water colours. I also honed my pen and ink and pencil skills, all of which I have found invaluable to illustrate all aspects of my childhood love of nature, which has been re-kindled since planting a small ‘wild’ garden (20ft x 20ft—to provide live subjects) in 2004.

Wherever possible, I paint life-size using live specimens, or make up compositions from photographs I have  taken with my lovely digital camera—especially from my little wild garden. I am a member of the Marwell International Wildlife Art Society, the Society of All Artists, the Cambridge Natural History Society, the Cambridge City Group of the Wildlife Trust and the RSPB. In 2007, for the first time, I submitted three works to the National Exhibition Of Wildlife Art (NEWA); two were selected for the exhibition, and I sold one. As well as submitting to the NEWA exhibition, I have submitted five paintings to the Society of Botanical Artists Open Exhibition and all five have been selected: see Flower Gallery (6-10).

My work has been described by some as ‘exquisite botanicals’ and nature ‘immortalised in print’. As I have all the equipment necessary to print, I decided to design and produce calendars based on my work. These are all hand collated in my studio (bought more equipment!!) and are printed as limited editions. All the calendars produced have been most successful; some are still available as part of a limited edition, others are perpetual calendars only.