Impressions series
Impressions began with conversations about my sketchbooks and a fascination with people-watching. It led me to wonder how much of a person’s identity we instinctively construct from appearance. Would viewers see the same character, or create entirely different stories? The only way to explore the idea was to create portraits of people who do not exist.
Using digitally generated photographic references as a starting point, I produced each portrait as a digital linocut print, built from three carefully considered colour layers, with the final black layer providing the finer details and texture. Inspired by the qualities of traditional relief printmaking, the process combines handcrafted aesthetics with contemporary digital techniques.
The aim was to suggest the essence of a personality – to create imaginary individuals who feel familiar and believable. The most rewarding aspect of exhibiting the series has been hearing the remarkably different stories, occupations, and personalities that viewers have projected onto the subjects. Each portrait becomes a collaboration between artist and observer, revealing as much about the viewer as it does about the image itself.
The series has been exhibited widely, with Skeptical (top left) receiving an award at the Leicester Open Exhibition, and several pieces finding homes in private collections.
Medium: Digital software – Fresco, Procreate, Photoshop
Digital Sketches around Leicester
These sketches grew out of regular meet-ups with fellow artists through Leicester Sketch Club and Urban Sketchers Leicester. Over the years, I have captured a wide variety of locations across the city, sometimes working traditionally with pen and watercolour, and at other times using an iPad to explore a more digital approach to urban sketching.
These digital sketches were drawn on location, responding directly to the atmosphere and architecture of each setting. My digital process mirrors traditional sketching techniques: the line drawing is created first, followed by layers of colour and tone beneath it.
The Cosy Club in Leicester features prominently, having been a regular meeting place for Leicester Sketch Club sketching sessions. As a result, it became a familiar and inspiring subject, offering endless opportunities to study light, perspective, architecture, and the everyday interactions of people within the space.
Medium: Digital software – Fresco, Procreate
Bestiary series
For centuries, humans have anthropomorphised animals, projecting our own values, fears, and beliefs onto them through folklore, literature, and natural history. In this series, those human interpretations are quite literally overwritten. The animals are superimposed over the words used to describe and define it. The image invites viewers to consider where the true essence of the animal lies: in our stories, or in the creature itself.
The artwork was created using Adobe Fresco and Photoshop, employing a digital process inspired by traditional linocut printmaking. Rather than carving into a physical block, colour is removed with a stylus in much the same way a printmaker cuts into lino, gradually revealing the image through subtraction. The final composition is built from three carefully registered colour layers, with the upper black layer providing the finest detail. Each print is presented on a page chosen specifically for its connection to the subject matter, allowing the underlying text to become an integral part of the composition rather than merely a background. A final white layer beneath the image provides contrast, ensuring the portrait emerges clearly while remaining inseparable from the written narrative beneath.
Medium: Digital software – Procreate, Photoshop
Assorted pen drawings
These pen drawings grew from moments when drawing became less about creating finished artwork and more about becoming completely absorbed in the act of making marks. Built through patient layers of line, texture, and observation, each piece demands sustained concentration, allowing the outside world to recede for a while.
Living with chronic pain has taught me that creativity can be more than a means of expression; it can also be a form of distraction. The intense focus required to construct these intricate drawings creates a state of mindful engagement, where attention shifts from discomfort to the rhythm of the pen moving across the paper. Although the pain never truly disappears, the process offers periods of respite by redirecting the mind towards something purposeful and absorbing.
The drawings themselves explore a variety of subjects, united not by theme but by process. Every line is considered, every texture built gradually over time, reflecting both patience and persistence. In many ways, the finished works become a record of hours spent immersed in careful observation—a quiet reminder that art has the power not only to communicate ideas, but also to transform the experience of the person creating it.
Medium: Pen on paper
