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Coming from a
large family I was constantly looking for ways to amuse myself
and soon discovered that drawing and painting were by far my
favourite. I also made frequent trips abroad to my father’s
native Hungary, encountering for the first time the larger than
life ladies and gents who were probably the earliest influence
for the characters in my paintings.
Although I found school to be an unpleasant experience I enjoyed
art and music classes, so it was natural for me to pursue an
artistic career. I completed a foundation course at Harrogate
College of Art where I studied a range of subjects, including
photography, sculpture and graphics. During this time I
maintained a lifelong interest in simple drawing, and always
enjoyed the life class most.
From Harrogate I went on to study illustration at Cleveland
College of Art. The same interest in studying the human form
continued and led to the development of the extreme figures in
my work.
I left Cleveland, taking with me a HND with distinction and a
handful of paintings, but I didn’t yet know how to turn my
studies into a job, so the painting went on the backburner.
In 1991 I set up a business called ‘Wild Thing’ hand making
papier-mâché models, ranging from twisted newspaper sheep to
7-foot giraffes. These were sold from a shop in York, and kept
me busy for a couple of years until I decided to display the
work I had left college with. The ‘big girls with attitude’ sold
surprisingly quickly and encouraged me to concentrate on
painting instead as my chosen career.
Since then I have been painting non-stop. Along the way my
partner took responsibility for publishing my work as greetings
cards until I found an agent who in turn introduced me to
Washington Green and Halcyon Gallery in 1995.
I have since had my work published as limited edition prints,
greetings cards and jigsaws as well as having various
exhibitions over the last 4 years.
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