Shirley’s painting is an emotional response to the nature that surrounds her — in her garden and in the landscapes she encounters — reflecting its chaos and calm, strength and vulnerability. She works towards depth of surface and spatial tension, seeking balance while retaining an element of instability. That friction is essential; it keeps the eye moving.

She is currently developing a series of paintings rooted directly in plants grown in her garden. Maintaining a daily drawing practice, she works outside in all seasons, collecting plant material — cuttings from shrubs and trees, seasonal growth — which she brings back into the studio to draw from again. From emerging seeds to dead branches, she is interested in plant structure at every stage. Each form holds its own visual authority depending on forms alongside it and the environment it is in.
She works full-time from her home near Filey in North Yorkshire across two studios — one for painting and one for ceramics. Working in both 2D and 3D informs her approach; relationships between shape, colour and texture underpin all of her work.
In 2024 she was elected a Selected Member of the Craft Potters Association and will exhibit for the second time at Ceramic Art London this May.

She has painted and made work since childhood. After Foundation studies at Chester Art College, she trained in textile surface decoration and went on to work as an art educator, textile designer, later running a contemporary craft gallery for nearly a decade. She came to clay in her late forties, returning to painting with renewed urgency at the same time. Both disciplines now sit at the core of her practice.