Artist in Residence

I’ve been Artist in Residence at Dr. Neil’s Garden – known as Edinburgh’s ‘secret garden’ – since the end of May, 2021. Beginning my time there by attuning to the garden with my senses and with early inspiration from poets such as John Clare and Kathleen Jamie, I have gradually become woven into the fabric of what is a delicately-balanced tapestry of plants, fungi, friend and visitor that constitute this special place and something in me has shifted.

A friend and poet, Christine De Luca and I began to meet and talk under the shelter of the great trees in the garden. As the year unfolded and, against a backdrop of a rapidly changing world, richly deep conversations – between plants and plants, between plants and us artists, between time and space – began to emerge and, in turn, to bring about perceptible shifts in consciousness.

The nature of these conversations has been evoked through a body of drawings and paintings by myself and poems by Christine and have been reflected upon through a short film by Martin Burt, of ‘Native Film’ and a series of meditations, envisaged by Dr. Kitty Wheater, Mindfulness Chaplain at The University of Edinburgh and exhibited at Thomson’s Tower, in the heart of the garden, from 19th -26th June, 2022.

During the early part of this time, I worked using watercolour, before moving to using chalk pastels as the year turned. All works are for sale, with beautiful Giclee prints also available. For further details and for prices, please enquire using the contact form on this site.