Q: Your paintings often balance abstraction and descriptive elements. How do you decide where to draw the line between capturing reality and exploring abstraction?

A: There definitely isn't much conscious decision making during the act of painting for me. I think the style has been something that has developed through trying lots of different methods, being in that unthinking state of play and flow, and making marks intuitively.

Q: The dynamic nature of your painting process seems to mirror the movement of water itself. Can you walk us through a typical painting session and how intuition guides you?

A: My painting sessions always begin with music. It makes me want to move, and definitely brings energy to the space and to my body. Listening to music loosens up my movements and guides the mark making.

I've been practicing for a long time now and so my knowledge of composition and colour theory is inbuilt, under the surface. I do not need to consciously decide where the marks will go, my body, my hands, the muscle memory of making a piece balanced is already there. So my play brain can take over and have fun, and that's where I find the magic.

Q: Your work emphasises the therapeutic and meditative qualities of being in nature. How does this personal connection to nature impact the way viewers respond to your art?

A: I think it is very human to try and truly be in the beauty that is our earth. There is nothing like the experience of being out in a vast space and feeling very small and beautifully unimportant.

Nothing seems to matter so much as being alive in that very moment. I hope that viewers get the sense when they look upon my work, that they are part of the beauty of the earth. When they see the wonder they become the wonder.

Q: Outdoor swimming and yoga are essential rituals for you. Do you find parallels between these practices and your approach to art-making?

A: I talk about that free flow, state of play that I'm in when making art. It's also the state I'm in when I walk or swim outside, or practice yoga or dig my garden. If my hands and body are busy doing something then my mind is at its most relaxed. I am the truest version of myself in that moment. In my true nature I am making my most honest work.

Q: The idea of psycho-geography and collecting objects like shells and stones is fascinating. How do these items, and their histories, integrate into your creative practice?

A: I walk along a beach and collect a shell or a beautiful stone. I put it in my pocket to keep as a reminder of the day. To remember that the shore line is there every day, moving in and out right on schedule. You can be on a bus or a train or in traffic and put your hand on your little rough shell or smooth stone. That stone was on this earth for thousands of years before you, and will be for thousands of years after you. This can make you feel small but I like feeling small. I am small, and life will go on. There's a comfort in that. Sometimes I collect water from a river or the sea to use with my watercolours or my acrylics or charcoals and then the minerals can be imbued into the piece too. I hope my art long outlives me too.

Q: What advice would you offer to artists who want to connect more deeply with nature and incorporate those experiences into their creative work?

A: We paint what we see and what we know and what we long for. Make time for yourself. Take the time to put yourself somewhere new, somewhere vast, somewhere bigger than you. Go out and breathe with the earth. Feel the tingle of water on your skin. You can bring that magic home to your desk or room or studio and paint it if you want to, but you must experience it first.