I’m self-taught (with valuable guidance from fellow artists), born in Stoke-on-Trent and now, via Sheffield, Nottingham and Cotherstone in Teesdale, live in Willerby on the western edge of Hull. A research biologist by training and artist by nature, I combined science and art until the mid-1990’s when art became the dominant force.
My work is mainly figurative and narrative, developed from commonplace events, single moments in time, and the unsaid. Landscapes are occasional diversions from genre and portrait painting but offer the same drama and scope for experimentation.
My subjects tend to choose me, probably because they lean towards the autobiographic or remembered events and emotions.
I use a variety of media, mainly oils, but drawing informs all my work and visual remnants of under drawing and early brushstrokes frequently become an integral part of the finished picture. I often use a combination of life studies and photographs to develop the finished piece although I enjoy those first moments of uncertainty when rapid marks seem to have their own life and direction.
I’m active in regional art groups, largely in Yorkshire, as a tutor, demonstrator and for workshops.