Although I’ve not had formal art training I’ve painted and crafted all my life. I was born on the Isle of Wight, but lived in Bahrain and Egypt for 32 years, and while I was there I painted murals and had two art exhibitions. I paint in watercolours, acrylics, pastels and coloured pencils, often using more than one medium in a painting if I want to achieve a certain effect. Over the past year I’ve been painting British wildlife on reclaimed slate. I enjoy using a material that was once part of a roof and was originally a river bed 45 million years ago! They have proved quite popular and have been selling well in a gallery in Ferring. The style of my art is colourful realism and I can remember as a child being fascinated by tiny flowers and detailed illustrations. I like to show the viewer of my artworks the patterns on a falcon’s wing for example or how many colours are in a fox’s eyes. Creating art can be a solitary activity and so I joined the Dupont art group and have taken part in their exhibitions. I paint almost every day and creating art is a very important part of who I am.