I was born in the early fifties and spent much of my childhood overseas, first in France and then in Hong Kong. I returned to Britain, studied music and graduated as a flautist from Trinity College London in 1975. Having played professionally for a number of years, I abandoned the concert scene and moved to Skye where I taught music, living in a croft house on the West Coast. A hard environment for birds and people alike but what a place to learn about the ever changing moods of light.

Six years later I moved to Aberdeen, again teaching music, and after years of observing birds finally decided to experience flight at first hand, taking up hang gliding at the age of thirty six. Twenty years on and I have flown in countries from Europe to Japan, thermalled with birds ranging from vultures and storks to red kites and peregrines, won the British Women's Hang Gliding League Championship in 1990, and twice represented Great Britain. During this period I began to draw birds professionally, first exhibiting in 1994.

Finally I discovered a focus for the hours of patient fieldwork, equipped with bivvy bag, Trangia stove, sketching kit, telescope, portable bird hide and a great deal of patience. Scotland has a wealth of bird life and a great diversity of habitats. I have weathered the wilds of Harris, stayed in the lighthouse on the Isle of May, been dropped off by fishing boat on Bass Rock and Handa Island, spent many days and nights in the hills North of Ullapool, and watched the tides ebb and flow in Lossiemouth Estuary where so many fine waders overwinter. My latest infatuation is with the machair of South Uist.

I only draw subjects which I have observed, believing that the unique character of each species is as important as the accurate detail of both bird and background. The Jizz, as bird lovers call it, has to be right. Currently I exhibit in galleries from Tain in the North of Scotland to the South of England, living in Moray and flying sailplanes with the buzzards and, just occasionally, the eagles that own the Cairngorm massif.