About the artist

I was born in Stratford upon Avon and benefitted from a childhood filled with opportunity for travel, exploration and learning. I was actively turned on to an appreciation of the natural world, history, our cultural heritage and the environment.

I studied engineering at Leeds University and Penn State University and worked for more than three decades in the construction industry. My career in construction was based in Oxfordshire, where I settled with my family.

Having recently retired from the consultancy business of which I was a joint owner, I have spent time teaching, undertaking voluntary work for the RSPB, learning new skills in picture framing, travelling and living abroad (Cyprus) and developing my portfolio of artwork and photographs.

What inspires me

I am a keen birder and I have been able to pursue my interest in avian photography during my travels in recent years to Cyprus, Argentina, Egypt and Iceland, and my time spent as a volunteer warden at the RSPB reserve at Otmoor, near Oxford.

I am endlessly inspired by the work of many of the Old Masters with which we are all familiar: Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Raphael and the Impressionists. I also love the decadent brilliance of Egon Schiele, who inspires my life drawing, and I appreciate the work of Victorian travellers such as Ruskin and Lear, whose work influences the sort of urban sketching and depictions of the built environment that I am currently working on.

First exhibition

I built up a body of work during my recent stay in Cyprus, which I was very fortunate to be able to display in my first ever solo exhibition at the Centre of Visual Arts and Research (CVAR) in Nicosia.

I am indebted to Rita Severis, the owner of CVAR for her support in facilitating my exhibition, and to my friend Angus Reid, who painted the above portrait of me on a sweltering day in Cyprus in the summer of 2018, and who has granted permission for his work to be included here.