Born in '55, in south-west England, UK, I started my career in quite a different realm... the scientific and technical world. During my late teens I took up art evening classes in my spare time, to satisfy an interest that I had had to give up while in senior school. My first paints were oils and they are still amongst my favourites today. I spent my evening-class years painting a variety of subjects, including the local landscape, and took part in the annual shows.
Over time I gradually explored other media, including soft pastel, inks and gouache. I continued to support and enter local art shows, and several sales gave me confidence to continue my efforts. In the late 90's, I began doing flower studies, using all kinds of media, as an alternative to landscape themes. In 1999 I started a website for my pictures, this being replaced in 2001 by my current site.
In 2004 I decided it was time to try my hand at accepting commissions. So far I have completed some dozen and a half works for private buyers; ranging from little 6-inch framed floral miniatures for wedding items to a three-feet wide diptych semi-abstract for a bedroom (for metric-minded users read 15cms and 1 metre respectively). In 2007 I was pleased to be invited to offer an image for the recently-published book "Acrylic Flower painters' A to Z".

I now work with oils and acrylics for floral canvasses, and use soft pastels and oils (now occasionally) for landscape subjects. The style of flowers varies from representational to semi-abstract, the latter being encouraged by close-up macro exploration of the subject. Flower gestures, colour and shape each play a role in the paintings. Landscape topics remain, on the whole, traditional in appearance and I look for weather and light effects, water, clouds and other atmospheric conditions.
I am always looking for different ways to present flowers in pictures and this will be an ongoing challenge through 2008 and beyond. Also, this year (2008) I am doing more work with the pastel medium, which could result in some interesting looser styles. I am also beginning to explore texture ideas.