Merope Pease has been influenced by Art, literally from birth. 'I was called Merope after the person who taught my father how to paint - because we both had auburn hair. My life as an artist, a description that still bemuses me, started years ago and very much as a second career. Encouraged by friends I started to collect driftwood inspired by the shapes, textures and the idea of the sea's own sculpting through distance and time. A journey of imagination: a piece of teak cut from a 100 year old tree in Burma, used to build a boat which sailed the world before being wrecked, broken and shaped by rocks, sand and the sea before being deposited on our shores and collected by me. There is something particularly satisfying about knowing that my boats are being displayed as far away as Nantucket and in unusual places closer to home like a beach hut in Nottingham! As a child I loved sailing and the sense of freedom which came with it. I find that same feeling of freedom when I am creating my sailing scenes and hope that whichever piece you see it captures your imagination as well.'