My paintings embody my love affair with London. They explore my interest in the layers of history embedded in the urban environment and the remnants of past glories. Although London is often seen through the histories of the Great and the Good, I am interested in the traces left behind by ordinary Londoners. Many of my subjects also have a family or personal connection.

Nunhead then, is my sort of place. One of the most battered of London’s Magnificent Seven Cemeteries, it has the memorials of thousands of ordinary Londoners and the imposing tombs of Victorian Grandees (most not entirely upright).

Much of it is now impenetrable woodland, giving dappled light that is not often associated with the city.

This allows me to explore the last of my interests — the portrayal of light in oil paint and a developing interest in the properties of transparent and opaque paint.

This painting uses indigo as the primary colour and responds to the woodland light of the site. It focuses on the use of transparent paint to describe the light.