My painting was inspired by the work of Edgar Degas. I used his style along with his focus on ballerinas and sports, to create this painting of the gymnast.

My grandparents lived in a house that had Davis' there since the early 1800's. Its beginnings a farm and weavers cottage. My granda D was an avid gardener, out in all weathers, all seasons. The warp is linen, the backbone of the house I've always seen as home. The weft is spring, summer, autumn, winter, the colours of his garden. My great Granda, William John, planted the chestnut trees that frame the weave. They've been there since about 1900.

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami occurred on 26 December, off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, touched everyone profoundly.  This painting was my way of expressing what I could not put into words.          The Subject, an innocent young life, feeling lost and alone. Betrayed by the natural world she thought was her friend.

It’s special to me as it is my first ever abstract piece. 

This is an acrylic painting on a 60x50cm canvas. It is based on a photo I had of the sun setting over Strangford Lough.  I decided to take a slightly more abstract route with it while keeping some more realistic elements. 

Created using digital painting and photography.

Photograph taken at Belfast City Hall, under stained glass.

Photograph taken in Oxford Island at sunset.

Star girl resembles a time in your childhood when you got rewarded with a gold star when you were good.

The candy girl is fun and bright and represents the Chicano girls.

Just my imagination is about a young girl (me) writing down her dreams which is about Disney, all her toys are alive while watching her while she is writing. 

I decided to take a slightly different approach from your classical architectural structure, with using a beehive as they are a natural structure created by bees.

I created this piece as unfortunately bees are endangered and I wanted to emphasise how incredible bees actually are and I hope it passes a message that we should cherish them a bit more.

My son’s voice was always deeper than his peers, and this painting captures him at age 14, just as he becomes less of a wee boy, more of a young man, with a deeper voice still and a wisdom beyond his years.  I feel this portrait conveys him as the steady and self-disciplined person I know, whose innate integrity is a vital touchstone in my own life.  I think the glint in his eye also hints at a bit of mischief.

 

I wanted to create a lightly drawn portrait that would have a more generic appeal, conveying a notion of beauty and nonchalant self-confidence, rather than focussing on an individual who is famous or known.  I came across this photo of an obscure French actress of the 1950s, and decided it was the ideal starting point for this sketch, that for me captures the mood of a hazy afternoon daydream.   Staring into space, no particular place to go, enjoying contentment.

 

I painted my daughter at age 13, not long after we found that she’s autistic, a diagnosis that has freed her to feel more confident and comfortable in who she is and how to navigate the world.  For me this painting captures something of her resolute spirit and quiet, steady nature.  I know few people, if any, who possess her single mindedness and undaunted, continuous enquiry.