Tell us a bit about yourself and your work I’m a secondary art teacher in Northumberland; I did my Fine Art degree as a mature student and loved it so much. It opened the door to abstract painting which is still my first love. My practice was influenced by Peter Doig and Gerhard Richter and if I can ever work on a large scale this is what I’ll revisit. I completed my PGCE straight after my degree and this coincided with the very first NEATEN meetings and discovering the power of sharing and collaborating. I joined Sketchbook Circle during the TEA programme and have taken part every year, having amazingly diverse and inspiring exchanges which I always share with my students at school.
How would you describe your work Eclectic! I think I have mini obsessions with things and processes and I try to respond to my sketchbook partners to develop a conversation. I definitely have a circles and lines obsession! I love collage, mark making, text, photography, digital editing and stitching. I also think that as a teacher you try to have a diverse range of processes so you can pass this on to students.
Where do you get your inspiration from? Everywhere! I’m lucky enough to live really close to the most beautiful stretch of coastline and on each visit to the beach I take photos which at some point emerge in my work. I’m always on the look out for interesting surfaces and textures too.
What is the first thing you remember making? I loved making books. I grew up on a farm so used to make up stories about my pet sheep and lambs, then I’d type them up on my mum’s typewriter and then draw pictures. If only I’d known about Henry Moore’s wonderful sheep drawings then!
What are you working on at the moment? I also love old photos, both from old family albums and found photos and am using these as starting points for a series of paintings. I find that translating a photo into painting is also a process in remembering the people and places and reconnecting with memories. I’m also experimenting with oils and cold wax creating landscapes based on the beach.
Where can we see more of your work? I am an occasional insta sharer @jillpiddock ‘Now walk three paces’ was work resulting from a CPD course at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art facilitated by artist Alice Myers. I worked with Amanda Skilton exploring the potential of instructions and play and created a zine which is available online and in Baltic archive. Amanda and I also worked together on the NEATEN Big Draw, creating a giant tree on the beach. The drone film is on our NEATEN YouTube channel, Climate of Change:
