The Window Collection

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Exploring Northumberland and Durham’s foot-worn paths across the moors leads me to the many hidden and derelict farmhouses, cottages and barns there, now abandoned. Drawn to look through the windows to the wild landscapes beyond, I am fascinated by the worn interiors - and the hints of the ghosts of those gone. I paint these dwellings exactly as I find them, leaving others to imagine their own stories for the images.

I will never know the people who lived and worked in the farms, mines or quarries, but I find it very poignant to look out of the windows, seeing what they would have seen. Some houses have furniture left in them and this gives a very strong sense of the former inhabitants. Standing in the living rooms of some of these old homes with the cast iron range intact, I can only guess what day-to-day life was like. Questions arise in my mind about how many meals were cooked, how many births, deaths and marriages took place? Was it a happy home?

I try to create this sense of place as accurately and clearly as I can: my hope is that whoever looks at the paintings will be affected by the places in the same way. My paintings take time to create and often I will wait a number of years before I paint certain images, and yet I start others almost immediately, because of the strong impact they have on me.

The Blue Room
Pantry Window, Ruined Cottage
Bedroom Window, Ruffside Farm

Pithead Grove Rake Mine
Blind (Sunderland Eye Infirmary) - Original Watercolour
Swallow's Nest

'The Garden Room'
Porch Window Belmount Farm
Louvre