One year on from the Oxo

It was almost exactly this time last year that I had my solo show at the Oxo Gallery in London, where it was lovely to share my paintings with so many people. Paintings sold from there to Italy, America and across the UK. I am still working on a plan for "Cradled" to be installed in a maternity ward in a Newcastle Hospital. The combination of NHS bureaucracy and my own distraction making new work has meant that the progress of getting a two metre high painting to the other side of the country has been rather slower than it should! The Glasshouse portraits are in the foyer of Locke Living in Broken Wharf near St Pauls Cathedral in the City of London. The Glasshouse have the wonderful opportunity to have a show garden, designed by the wonderful Jo Thompson, at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, opening this week. I am sure there will be plenty of coverage of that on the BBC. The Glasshouse continue to do amazing work offering second chances to women in prison through horticulture.

I am very excited by the new process that has been occupying me over recent months. My art always explores the relationship between femininity and the natural world, which in the group of paintings at the Oxo was mainly focussed on green goddesses, and forest spirits in various forms. Over this winter I have been exploring how to get more "nature" into the creative process and have developed a way of allowing the natural form of locally coppiced wood to determine the shape of the painting. This involves making the frame first, out of natural, unfinished wood, then cutting the board to fit that irregular, organic, shape and only then designing the painting.

This was inspired by my research into Klimt, who made all his own frames, and viewed them as an integral part of the finished artwork. This is very different from the modern practice of not framing works - which at one level is just a sensible economic decision as an artist - and also leaves a painting "unfettered" and "free". Klimt was working with more traditional formats, carving and gilding the frames - the point for me is that the frame need not be an afterthought or just the presentation of the painting.

I would love to hear your feedback on this new direction, and particularly if you are aware of other artists who do anything similar.

"Alignment" Oil and cold wax medium on board. 66 x 70 cm (Frame includes lichen!)