Exhibitions: 

Great Sheffield Art Show (double prize winner)
S10 Gallery, Sheffield
Open Up Studios, Sheffield
Lighthouse Gallery, Sheffield
Greenhouse Gallery, Sheffield
Winter Gardens, Sheffield

Charisma Gallery, Matlock, Derbyshire
Patchings Art Centre, Nottingham (prize winner)
Focal Point Gallery, Nottingham
Oriel Plas Glyn y Weddw Gallery, North Wales
Blacksheep Gallery, Hawarden, Chester
Beldam Gallery, Brunel University, London
Lillie Gallery, Glasgow

Methods and materials for pastel paintings:

A variety of water-colour papers, pastel papers and grounds are employed.  Sanders Waterford 90lb NOT surface is frequently used, the white surface being useful for transparent effects.  The reverse of Canson pastel paper is a favourite for opaque working in pastel.  Both Sanders Waterford and Canson permit easy blending of the pastel - a key element of the work featured here.

Rougher surfaces stimulate broad and expressive treatment.  Of the 'sanded' type boards, Art Spectrum Colourfix and Sennelier pastel papers are used.  The fine glasspaper type texture of these grounds promotes direct treatment and inhibits blending.  Surfaces can be very lightly sanded to modify the ‘tooth’ when required.

Unison pastels, supplemented occasionally by other makes, are used most frequently.  Unison offer a good range of lightfast colours, are intermediate in softness and withstand reasonable pressure without crumbling.  The fine pigment structure facilitates smooth blending.

I favour a white or very pale ground which permits the use of semi-transparent techniques more usually associated with watercolour.  Allowances have to be made for the effect of the white on tonal values.  If preferred the white base can be tinted with a base layer of pastel, water colour, gouache, diluted acrylic paint or ink, to suit the working method.  Working on a darker, or coloured ground can be equally stimulating and has been described as ‘sculpting with light’.  Some artists prefer to start on a mid-tone ground working outwards towards the lighter and darker ends of the tonal spectrum.

My work is rarely sprayed with fixative at any stage.  Fixative renders lighter surface colours transparent and highlights are lost.  When applied thickly, colours are less affected by fixative.  Some artists fix their work in the early stages while continuing to build up colour.  Unfixed work requires careful management prior to framing, but once behind glass is no more or less vulnerable than any other medium.