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Formal training: 1982 - 1983 North Devon College, Art and Design.

For as long as I can remember, I have always enjoyed drawing and painting. Even during my school years, Art and Technical Drawing had been my favourite subjects, and I always considered myself fortunate that I had the opportunity to begin the development of my creative abilities from such an early age.

As a career choice, I had always wanted to become an artist, and following the completion of my secondary education, I studied Art and Design (B-Tec course) at North Devon College, knowing that further artistic training would stand me in good stead for later years. But, after finishing the course, I soon discovered that there were no openings for artistic-related jobs available in the area in which I lived, and instead of becoming an artist I subsequently became employed as a full time machine operator, at a factory.

I continued to paint and draw in my spare time and attempted to build up a small reputation for myself. People often asked me to draw pictures for them and I even received a few commissions along the way: one of them was to produce artwork for a board game with an environmental theme, entitled Enviroquest, which was publicized and distributed in the south-west region during the early 1990s.

As an artist, I am often drawn by the aesthetics of a subject. Whenever I see something that is visually interesting, such as a woodland setting, a beautiful building, a landscape or a stunning coastal scene, I will try to capture that subject as perfectly as I can onto canvas, using oil or acrylic paints (which are my two favourite painting mediums), and include as much detail as is necessary, paying particular attention to the quality of the light, until I am satisfied that I have produced a convincing artistic interpretation.

I mainly paint seascapes, landscapes, woodland river scenes, and picturesque buildings, usually located in and around North Devon, where I live. From time to time, I also paint abstracts. In terms of inspiration, the beauty and drama of the natural world will always charm and awe me, and that is the main reason why painting landscapes and seascapes hold such appeal for me: it is the challenge of copying or interpreting something that is picturesque from the living, external world and painting it in as naturalistic and as realistic a way as possible. I am still improving as an artist and there will always be new things to learn, so I am constantly trying to progress and meet my artistic expectations.

My work is regularly exhibited at the Medina Gallery (Barnstaple, North Devon) and at Gallery at 500 Feet (Lynton, North Devon). See Exhibitions page for current information.

Exhibited at:
December 1997 - The Burton Art Gallery and Museum, Bideford - Christmas exhibition.
December 1998 - The Burton Art Gallery and Museum, Bideford - Christmas Exhibition.
From December 2009 - Medina Gallery, Barnstaple, North Devon.
December 2009 - The Burton Art Gallery and Museum, Bideford - Christmas Exhibition.
From June 2010 - Gallery at 500 feet, Lynton, North Devon.

 

Other creative interests

In addition to painting, I am also interested in creative writing and enjoy writing spec screenplays, poetry and fiction. I also have an interest in music and play two musical instruments: the electric guitar and the synthesizer, which I have been playing on-and-off for more than twenty-five years.

In 2007, I released two albums of synthesizer music: A Calm Light and Ocean Splendour. One of the tracks from the Ocean Splendour album received airplay on BBC Radio Devon in 2007 and also received local press coverage at the time of its release.

I have music profile pages at www.myspace.com and at www.garageband.com which feature a selection of my music, and I also have a profile page at the BBC's website, in the section entitled 'Devon Demos'. Please go to the links page for more links.