Location: United Kingdom
BA Hons. Fine Art (Painting) – Cheltenham & Gloucester University.
I have drawn all my life. There is no doubt I was a bit of a tearaway at school but my pen and paper always served to engage me.
I left school as early as I could to become a welder. Money saved helped me travel extensively throughout the world. My trusted sketchbook in hand, I took in Papua New Guinea, Africa, Australia, India, Nepal, Hong Kong, China and Thailand. I did this until I was 24 when I took the plunge and started my degree in Fine Art.
At college I painted, painted and painted some more. In a world dominated by conceptual art I sought to find my own way at college. This meant hours and hours in a studio studying techniques of the old masters . I consider myself largely self-taught. However during my 20 years within the art world I have met many other artists who take time to share their vast knowledge with me. So my style is a mixture of all that I have learnt plus the hours and hours of work in my study.
Exhibitions
I have exhibited at galleries throughout the UK and at noted art fairs such as the Affordable Art Fair, Art in Action and Childwickbury Art Fair. Every 5 years I hold an exhibition for just my collectors where they can buy directly from me.
Collections and Commissions
My paintings are held in private, corporate and museum collections throughout the UK and Europe including the Bank of Austria and the Pomorie Museum, Bulgaria.
Inspiration
It is hard sometimes to answer the question “where do you draw your inspiration from?” It would be difficult to write down my thoughts and feelings concisely – I am truly a painter and not a writer!
My Figurative Paintings are my observations of society today, a portrayal of the real lives lived by so many people. It is as if the work chooses me. As I wander around urban settings I chance upon characters that have deep and personal stories to tell. It is these stories I try to represent in my paintings.
While it seems oxymoronic to think of visual art as a representation of something invisible, a whole range of art includes marginalized, disenfranchised, and often invisible people, groups and events in our culture. It is these stories that draw me. It is these stories I seek to make real and give voice in paint.
Sometimes the paintings are not pretty. Sometimes they may make you want to look away. I urge the viewer to hear the stories these paintings tell.
Pictures of Hope is a large body of work that depict the lives and stories of people who live on the fringes of society.
I began the series of paintings after establishing an art class at The Hope Centre, my local homeless centre in Northampton, UK. During the 5 years of voluntary work the clients of the Hope Centre shared their life stories with me and their hopes and dreams.
The paintings focus on the homeless, alcoholism, drug addiction and prostitution based on the real people, the lives they lead and my reflection on conversations held with the Clients at the Hope Centre.
