About the Artist

I am a self-trained, self-employed artist and single parent to one son, living in Halesowen, near Birmigham, UK. I was born in 1984 and have lived in the Midlands for most of my life, but I have had the good fortune to travel extensively over the years.

I previously worked as a sound engineer and studio manager before making the change to Art as a career in 2010. Since, I have built my business predominantly around street art / muralism, but I also produce many studio artworks which I sell online and occasionally, through galleries.

The themes of my mural work revolve heavily around wildlife – particularly endangered or threatened species and those that have significance to local environments and their communities.

Over the past decade I have built up a long record of public art practise, working with councils, colleges and universities, community groups and festivals, museums and a range of other clients across the UK, and as far away as Mexico and India, to create vibrant public artworks. I believe my success to date lies in my ability to create site specific murals that work well with their environment and hold universal appeal.

I’ve been fortunate to be featured in many online articles, a few magazines and a few books, including “Paper Crafts” – Thames & Hudson/ V&A 2018, and more recently, “Street Art is Female” by Alessandra Mattanza and MUCA Munich – Prestel 2022.

I have Public Liability Insurance, I am trained to work at height, and I hold a valid IPAF licence.

Recent experience

  • Mural commission for New Urban Era Bus Stop Arts Trail. Tamworth, September 2024.
  • Mural commission for Moseley Hive at Moseley Park. Birmingham, March 2024.
  • Mural commission for Hope International Church. Belfast, February 2024.
  • Mural commission for Worcester Paint Festival. Worcester, September 2023.
  • Work on Walls installation with The Herbert Museum and Art Gallery. Coventry, Summer 2023.
  • 90m long canal-side mural commission for HS2 / Balfour Beatty. Birmingham, Summer 2023.
  • Multi mural commission for St. Modwen developers. Longbridge, Spring 2023.
  • Mural commission for Hit The North festival. Belfast, May 2023.
  • Mural commission for Belfast Zoo. Belfast, March 2023.
  • Mural commission for Arts in The Yards, supported by the Commonwealth Games. Acocks Green, November 2022.
  • Mural commission for New Urban Era Cycle Arts Trail, supported by Art Council England. Tamworth, September 2022.
  • Mural commission for Friends of Shenstone Station, with permission from Network Rail. Shenstone, April 2022.
  • Mural commission for Seedhead Arts and Newtown Ards council. Newtown Ards, Northern Ireland, October 2021.
  • Poster design for The Creative City exhibition – part of Birmingham Design Festival 2021
  • Mural commission for Jewellery Quarter BID, inside Jewellery Quarter car park. Birmingham, August 2021
  • Mural commission for Roundhouse Birmingham. An industrial placement project with Canal & River Trust, National Trust and Sutton College. Birmingham, June 2021
  • Mural commission for Friends of Wylde Green Station, with permission from Network Rail. Wylde Green, June 2021
  • Mural commission for CourtX tennis complex. Southsea, May 2021
  • Large scale 2 mural commission for Belfast Council’s “Entries Project”. Belfast, August 2020

Weblinks


I'm often contacted by inquisitive students who have asked me many questions over the years, so I thought I'd start adding some of my responses to those here as well.

Do you consider your job hard?

It's not the hardest job in the world, but it's certainly not easy. I am self employed which means I have to manage every aspect of the business myself - taxes, contracts and invoices, ordering supplies, paying bills, making reservations, meeting with clients, managing my 2 studios - as well as physically creating Art.

Making murals can be quite physically demanding too. There are long hours involved, sometimes working well over a week without a day off. There is usually a lot of travelling, walking, climbing and lifting involved and the act of painting a giant mural is exhausting by itself. Especially when you work alone.

I am a mother, too - I have a 14 yr old son - so I always have a lot of work to do. But I enjoy it all and my job can be a lot of fun. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

Why did you change profession?

The financial recession in 2008 took a big toll on my job at the time. I was a sound engineer and the company I was working for was suffering, so I left that year to look for work elsewhere. In 2010, I became a mother and I knew that my old job wasn't going to work for me anymore - too many long hours and late nights away from home. I needed to find something else and I was determined to do something that I cared about as much as music.

I've enjoyed art and being creative since I was very young, and I've always sketched over the years, but I only studied Art in school and I didn't go to college or university for it - my studies were all in Music. Still, I had taken up sketching again after my son was born, and started to develop an interest in social media. I already had a keen interest in graffiti and street art, and because I couldn't go out much at the time, I pursued this via Facebook and Instagram.

Along the way I made a lot of friends from all over the world, most of them artists themselves. I started trading art with them - mainly handmade stickers and posters - and we would put each other's work up in our own cities, take photos and share them online. It all grew from there.

I first started spray painting in 2012. By 2014, I was self employed.

What are your inspirations or what inspires you?

I get inspiration for my work from a huge variety of places, but my main focus is around the relationship between humanity and nature - such as how humanity tries to force nature to do what it wants, and how futile that is.

I read a lot and I particularly enjoy philosophy, theology and mythology - the more ancient, the better - and this also has a big influence on what I create.

Why are you so interested in origami animals? Or when did you first start doing origami animals?

My interest in origami is minimal and has no influence on my work - even though my animals are regularly described in this way by others. Of course I can understand why people may see a relation to origami in my work, but my influence actually comes from geometry, low poly modelling, crystalline structures and architecture. My earliest creatures were made up of 3D geometric shapes like cubes, and they have evolved from there. To me, my animals represent our future with nature - unnatural, low-poly and robotic, designed to suit our desires and look aesthetically pleasing.