Showing My Work at St Arild’s
This summer I had the real joy of showing my work at St Arild’s Church, a beautiful ancient building nestled in the South Cotswolds, as part of the Badminton Benefice Festival of Music 2025.
It’s not every day you get to hang paintings in a space with such history and presence. St Arild’s, Oldbury on the Hill, now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust, is peaceful, slightly mysterious, and full of atmosphere. Being there—on my own, making and installing the work—was a moving experience in itself. You can really feel the weight of time in the stones, the whispers of lives lived quietly and deeply.
I took the opportunity to spend time alone in the church before the exhibition—just sitting, sketching, and letting the stillness soak in. A particular part that stood out to me was a memorial plaque which honoured the life of a local blacksmith on which it said “…he never made an enemy or lost a friend.” I found this quote struck a chord with me and I reflected on it and used the text within my work. There’s something powerful about being in a space like that with no agenda. I made a small series of spontaneous sketchbooks in the moment, drawing directly from the textures, shadows and shifting light inside the building. That time led me to create new work that responded specifically to the place—an intuitive and quiet conversation with its character and history.
…..he never made an enemy or lost a friend…
My practice explores movement, gesture, and a sense of place—how we experience the world through layers of feeling, memory and mark-making. Usually, I think of it in relation to landscape and shifting light. But showing the pieces in a space like this added a whole new dimension. Somehow, the paintings felt more still, more reflective—like they were holding conversations with the building itself.
Since moving to the Cotswolds from the coast a few years ago, I’ve been really struck by how differently I respond to place—the colours, the light, the rhythm of things. That shift has been finding its way into my work. And showing it in St Arild’s made me even more aware of how surroundings affect us, sometimes quietly and over time.
I’m so grateful to have been invited to be part of the Festival of Music—such a lovely gathering of people, sound, art and spirit. Thank you to everyone who visited and spent a bit of time with the work. And thank you to the team who made it all happen.
It’s an experience I’ll carry with me for a long while.
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