Starting in the summer of 1979, I worked for thirty years at London design agency Imagination. I was a draughtsman, graphic designer and model-maker for the first nineteen years, working regularly (sometimes even daily) across all three disciplines and on a drawing-board, too. When computers finally made their presence felt in both draughting and graphic design I opted to specialise solely in model-making - still on a drawing-board – a job I enjoyed for the next eleven years. Four years as a freelancer then followed but for the past five years I’ve concentrated on being an artist, drawing on a combination of many of my old skills and several newly-acquired ones. And I still work on a drawing-board. Some things never change.

From an early age I’ve loved big green places with lakes and mountains as a backdrop: landscapes, waterscapes and skyscapes that are uplifting and endlessly changing in colour. Growing up we holidayed in the Lake District every year and now, in later life, I’m more drawn to the emptier, rugged, awe-inspiring Scottish Highlands. Despite living in south west London these landscapes continue to greatly influence my painting.

Although I don’t paint en plein air, I do take lots of photographs; even so, I often create pictures from memory or from a sense of a memory, so my art is a mixture of the figurative and the abstract. I work mainly in watercolour but also experiment with adding other media and the occasional unexpectedness of the results can be inspiring. I’ve also learned the value of leaving work-in-progress lying around so that I keep seeing it - perhaps in a different light or even a different way up – which adds focus to my thoughts on how to finish a piece. This mulling can sometimes lead to a whole new take on the subject matter, which I find very exciting.