I grew up in the Scottish borders surrounded by natural beauty and art, with a particular love for the Scottish Colourists and Gothic Art. I always drew and painted and made things. After a Latin degree I went to study in Florence at Charles Cecil Studios – learning to draw and paint from the nude and from plaster casts using the sight-size technique. My time in Italy included 8 months living in Rome where I had an exhibition at La Stelletta –a cooperative where young adults with learning disabilities paint pottery.
In 2003 I met Fr Digby Samuels who wanted to gather artists in his parish in Wapping, East London to ‘evangelise the culture’. With Sr Sheila Gosney and others I discovered art as a tool for prayer and healing, and became involved in running workshops and teaching.
I have done many portrait commissions since training in Florence – in oil, pastel and charcoal. In about 2004 I was introduced to a class – drawing Greek Sculpture at the British Museum. Through following this and other courses at the Royal Drawing School I began to explore greater personal expression and new perspectives. Mainly now I work from observation of the natural world, also from memory and imagination. I like beauty in ordinariness and stories; and enjoy the processes of drawing and painting.
Examples of Alice’s Work:
“Faced with the sacredness of life and of the human person, and before the marvels of the universe, wonder is the only appropriate attitude” Pope John Paul II
St Patrick's Studios 