Studio visits
I’m always happy for people to visit my studio - I’m based in Nottingham, UK. Drop me a line here if you’d like to do that.
Galleries
About
Painting is something I love in and of itself rather than as a vehicle to take me somewhere. It’s taken me a while to settle into this notion. My practice up until the time I started painting 8 years ago was idea-led and it’s taken a lot of wrong turns and blind alleys to finally come to the realisation that, with painting, it's the use of the medium itself that propels the work.
Colour is a major driver and I’m drawn to strong, vibrant and contrasting palettes. The drawn line compels me and it’s this that brings the figurative dimension into what is largely abstract work. Pure abstraction feels incomplete - a crucial element for me is what previously I would have called narrative but lately I’ve come to think of as presence. Human presence, or human-related objects which suggest the presence (or absence) of humans.
What I’m seeking when I paint is the frisson of a move or mark that feels somehow daring, a clash of colours that gives me a thrill. I work in surges, sometimes a burst of energy sending large painterly marks or a frenzy of scribbling across the canvas, sometimes slowing down and zooming into small areas, getting lost in the detail there. My intent always is to sink into the sensory experience of painting, shutting out the mental chatter of whys and wherefores and allowing instinct to lead the way.
History
I've been a practising artist for over 35 years. I'm mostly self-taught and don't hold any formal art qualifications. Initially working in textiles and then moving into illustration, in recent years I’ve settled on painting as my preferred medium.
I’m named after the Bob Dylan song ‘Corrina, Corrina’. Currently living and working in Nottingham, UK, originally from Rochdale, Lancashire.
I was an only child with artist parents. Although I was good at art I ended up on a European Studies degree course at Hull University in 1987. I fancied the year living abroad but I dropped out of the course before that happened. I’m not academic in the slightest and the course bored and depressed me.
I went on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme in 1989, I was painting fabric and making it into cushion covers. In 1991 I moved to Hebden Bridge and spent a few weeks on a foundation course at Rochdale Art College where I learned how to do machine embroidery and that’s what I ended up doing for the next 14 years. Eventually I grew frustrated with sewing and fancied printmaking. However that required space and equipment that wasn’t available to me, so I bought a small graphics tablet and taught myself digital drawing with the aim of printing my own greeting cards.
For the for the next 10 years I worked as an independent greeting card publisher, doing the trade shows, getting agents, even landing a publishing deal. However the appeal of drawing on a screen started to wear thin and I realised I needed to create in a more hands-on, visceral way. I’ve always liked to paint and I felt the urge to do more. In 2018 I started doing more painting and wound down the card business.