About

Who am I?

For as long as I can remember I’ve been an Artist.   When I didn’t have official materials to paint or draw with, I would find something!  One of my earliest childhood memories is of me using my Mother’s eyeshadow to ‘draw’ a face.   Faces fascinate me.  They always have.  Many times I’ve been caught out staring at strangers, on the bus, in the street, sitting in a coffeeshop, trying to capture them in my mind so that I can put them down on paper later. In my teenage years at School my art was my life.   I would every moment I could in the Art Room painting or creating something.  My maternal Grandfather was a painter and a photographer, so perhaps it was in my genes to follow in his footsteps.    At 18 I won the School Art Prize and went on to study Art at the Norwich School of Art in the UK.   Oh, did I mention that I’m English?   I moved to the United States in 1999 at the ripe old age of 29 and have been living here ever since.  First in Boston and then in 2001, I moved with my husband to Florida.

My first encounter with Photography was at school where my wonderfully accommodating and encouraging Art Teacher, Mr Porter, had my friends and I build our own dark room in the closet.   If I close my eyes, I can still smell the chemicals we used to develop the pictures, and if I’m honest…. I kind of miss it in a way.  It almost feels like cheating to be able to pull my pictures instantly off the camera and develop them in my “digital darkroom”.   Then again…. I never was all that patient, so in reality, probably not so much!

I’ve forever been telling people that I should take up Photography as I’m an “impatient artist” and if a painting takes too long, I get frustrated with it, but it wasn’t until after the birth of my second son in 2005 that my husband bought me, at my request, an Olympus E-500 DSLR for Christmas.   It was love at first sight!   There’s nothing quite like being able to capture the essence of your children and keep it forever, and that’s what I try and achieve for all my clients.

For the past couple of years whilst my children have been at home I’ve been focusing on my Photography, but now they are both in school and I find myself with the incredible luxury of having time to spend on whatever I want to do, so at last I am back working on my painting again. And I am loving it! I love my Photography, but Painting is something that’s been a part of my soul for all of my life. I’ve felt as though something has been missing from my life for a while, but was unsure as to what it was. When I picked up my paintbrush again and lost myself in painting for a couple of days I finally realised what it was and I am so happy to have found it again!

Add to my repertoire the fact that I love to knit and sew. It’s something I can do in the evening whilst my husband and I watch television and I’ve had a small Etsy store for a while now creating props for Photographers.

For a little while I’ve been wondering what I should focus on : my Photography, my Painting or my Textiles, and I finally realise that I do not have to choose, that I can do it all. So here I am. A Photographer. An Artist.

My Etsy Shop will be expanding from just crafted items to include my Paintings and my Photographs and I can’t wait! Give me a little while to build up some stock and we will be in business! I will also be commissioning Paintings and available for Family Photography Sessions.

What is The Painted Treehouse?

In 2007 I decided I wanted a website where I could showcase all of my work.   My paintings.  My Photographs.  My ‘creations’.   And so, The Painted Treehouse was born.   My very own Studio.