Lynn Poland
	As a child I spent whole days painting and drawing on in solitude in my room. I left school as soon as I could and enrolled on a two year foundation course with A level subjects – all art based. It was an idyllic time for me. The art disciplines were all taught by practising artists, which was a great benefit. Between 1982 and 1985 I trained as a printmaker in Manchester. My work at this time was figurative and in my last year at college I had two pieces exhibited in the Whitworth Young Contemporaries Exhibition. This gave me a number of contacts and commissions for portraits. For a short period of time I taught further education painting, drawing and printmaking and, after having my daughter in 1987, I trained as a teacher and spent the next twelve years combining a teaching career with my main love of painting. I have been fortunate to have always worked with colleagues who also continue to produce artwork. This has been a vital aspect of my development as a practitioner. Sharing ideas and practical knowledge with other artists is invaluable. I believe that in art, education never stops. There is always more to learn. During the last few years of my teaching career I continued to paint with increasing frustration at how little time I had in which to create substantial work. As a result of this I decided to greatly reduce my teaching commitments in order to concentrate on my artwork. Fortunately the risk paid off and within a short space of time I was exhibiting and selling work through a number of galleries and outlets. I have never been happier and I am now able to spend whole days painting in my studio. It is strange how life can come full circle. I am particularly drawn to areas of flat open countryside or shorelines. The simplicity of ribbons of land and sky, divided by hedges and roads that appear as visual scars across the landscape, provide the structure for my paintings. I live on the Cheshire Plain and my long narrow paintings are inspired by the flatness of the local landscape. In this type of environment it is natural to scan the horizon, as there are few vertical shapes to interrupt the view. The panoramic nature of the paintings is an attempt to emulate this sensation.