You can paint yourself into a corner, or you can paint yourself out of that corner.

That is exactly what I have done.

I am 56 years old and was born in Pudsey, and lived there for most of my life. Although I was exceptionally good at truanting from school, I did enjoy art, and achieved enough GCSEs to be taken on, at 16 years of age, as an apprentice painter and decorator. A number of years in the building trade followed, but I also completed a night school course in Art achieving an ‘O’ Level at grade B. This led me to being accepted on the HNC Art and Design course at Leeds College of Art and Design. I then applied to Middlesborough University, and was accepted onto the Design Craft for Theatre and Television (Prop Making) course. I started to become  more interested in creating art, and found an outlet for some of my paintings, generally to family and friends.

The degree course, however, did not lead to work in the Arts, so I went back to the building trade. Over time, I found this depressing, and eventually ended up on my own with few prospects. The one saving grace was looking after a dog called, Duke. I realised I had to try and straighten out my life. I found painting again helped a lot. Sadly, I did not have Duke for very long, but now I was painting because I wanted to, and I had the inspiration to do it.

I have mild dyslexia, and autism, and the world sometimes can get on top of me, but I paint, and sculpt to cheer myself up. I usually have a theme in mind, but my approach is quite haphazard, even though I attended the courses. But, I can honestly say that I cannot remember much of what I was taught. Whatever happens, I cannot seem to stop painting and sculpting.  In painting, my main themes are mild, dark humour, animals, nature and landscapes. My many small sculptures follow the same dark themes.