Taking water samples from Lough Neagh, Oxford Island, N.I April 2026
The Point of Departure
My practice begins in the landscape. Through field research, water sampling and microscopy, I investigate the hidden ecologies of rivers, lakes and wetlands, exploring the intricate forms and relationships that exist beneath the water’s surface.
These microscopic observations become the starting point for paintings, sculptural works and installations that translate scientific enquiry into visual experience.
Laser cut fluorescent acrylic prototypes, FabLab Creative Spark, Dundalk
Translation into Form
Working between observation and abstraction, I am interested in how painting can reveal what is normally unseen. Rather than illustrating the natural world, I seek to create works that emerge directly from it, allowing the structures, rhythms and patterns discovered through the microscope to inform both composition and material process.
Recent work has expanded beyond the painted surface into laser-cut sculptural forms, extending these microscopic investigations into three-dimensional space.
Microscopic water sample from Lough Neagh, April 2026
Research as Material
Research forms an integral part of my practice. Field notes, maps, water samples, microscope imagery and material experiments are not simply preparatory studies but important components of the work itself, documenting an ongoing process of observation and discovery.
Increasingly, I am interested in how these research materials can be exhibited alongside finished works, revealing the connections between landscape, scientific enquiry and artistic interpretation.
My practice is an invitation to slow down, to look more closely, and to recognise that beneath the surface of familiar landscapes exists a rich and complex world that often goes unnoticed.