About  Me

I have always had a fascination and love of the sea from an early age and I have a passion for animals. I think my mother despaired each time I brought a stray home with me, which was often!!!  I am fortunate that I am able to make my living from painting the things I love most.

I was born in Birmingham, which is about as far from the sea as you can get. But each year we always had a seaside holiday, my mum was also a sea worshipper and my early memories are of long days on the beach. I'm sure it must have rained some days, but strangely I have no memory of that!! So it was inevitable that I would live by the coast, which I did, thirteen years in Devon and now in Lancashire. They are very different but equally inspiring.

I have also followed my animal passion by travelling, I have been on safari twice to Botswana. I do count myself so lucky to have done that, it was an amazing experience. I don't think it is possible to describe in words the onslaught on the senses from dawn til dusk. While I was there I met fellow artist, Toni Hargreaves and we now share a studio. It's made a huge difference to us both and it's great to have someone to bounce ideas off to work with. Toni has since changed the direction of her work and is doing some really contemporary animals, check out her website  www.tonihargreaves.co.uk

My recent travels have taken me to Sri Lanka, where I had the best of both worlds. I saw wild Asian elephants in their native environment and then travelled to the coast for some spectacular sunsets

I bet you think this picture was taken on a tropical island, well think again!! I recently got back from a trip to Scotland, so this was the British Isles in May. This is the beautiful island of Iona which is one of the islands in the Inner Hebrides.

I'd heard a lot about this fabulous place and so I fulfilled a long held ambition when I stepped on to these fantastic white sands, and yes, the sea really was that tropical blue. I've already been working on some pictures from the reference I got while I was in Scotland. You can see them on the seascapes page.

I am a self taught artist, although every picture I do is a learning experience. I am always striving for perfection, which means I'll probably be painting forever. I don't think artists retire. Most of my work is done in pastel, it's a medium I love and it works well for me. I've also been doing some charcoal work more recently, so that has been a new technique to learn. I enjoy experimenting as it keeps my work fresh and pushes the boundaries.  

This is a wildlife image that I'm currently working on, I'm using reference I got from one of my trips to Botswana. There are a lot of elephants in Botswana especially in Moremi, a game park close to the Okavango Delta.

Still haven't finished this piece as the seascapes are keeping me pretty busy. I desperately want to spend more time doing the wildlife work, but I also have to earn my bread & butter and that,

for the moment, is seascapes. Good job I enjoy them too!!