About Me

My passion has always been to paint, stemming from an upbringing in an artistic family. To name but a few : my maternal grandfather, Eddie Nuttgens, designed and crafted his own stained glass windows in his studio in Buckinghamshire and, when aged 90, completed his last window, commissionned by Linda & Paul McCartney. My uncle, Joe, one of  his 12 children (www. josephnuttgens.co.uk), also a stained glass artist, has been commissioned by the Royal family for windows in WIndsor Castle.

 

Brought up in the UK, I left London mid 70's to settle in the South of France, immediately inspired by the vivid colours and scents of the provençal countryside,  near haunts of Cézanne and Van Gogh.  My studies at school had been academic but a last-minute additional A-level in Art, followed by a year in Art school, led me onto a- finally- creative route. Nevertheless,  for thirty years, I assisted the MD of major ship repair companies in Marseille.

 

My two children, born in France,  have both lived abroad and speak English and French fluently. My son, Charles Martins, is an actor amongst other creative activities, my daughter has chosen the Camargue to settle.

 

I spent a year, in 1996,  taking weekly evening art classes in Aix en Provence. My first oil painting “Mediterranean Village” figured in the end of year exhibition.  After a four year period -up to 2003- in the UK, fundraising, I came back to France and rapidly signed on at Marseille's Art School for evening life-drawing classes, subsequently participating in several summer outdoor painting courses in Italy, and in the South of France.  In 2011, I tried my hand at oil painting with painting knives, with a local art group : several of my oil paintings have been carried out using this technique.  In September 2017, I returned to painting and life-drawing evening classes at Aix en Provence's art school,  a joy to be back working with creative professionals, where all medias are accepted and encouraged.

 

My paintings have been displayed in various joint and private exhibitions in the région over the last ten years.

 

Thanks as ever to my enthusiastic family, friends and fellow artists, who are a continual source of inspiration and motivation to me.