I am a British citizen, born in Yorkshire in 1961, and now based in North Devon, UK.
Though I have always had a flair for pencil and chalk drawing, I began oil painting at the age of 12 and enjoyed early regional competition success and media publicity for my work in the North of England. Fortunately, my tutors encouraged me to undertake both my Ordinary and Advanced level art exams a few years early, which I passed with the top grades in my school. However, in 1983 I graduated in engineering and with a passion to travel, I initially pursued a career as a design consultant with various International architectural companies, residing primarily in the Middle East for 19 years. However, I returned to Commercial Art several years ago, and have extensively developed this aspect through my website, gallery representation and numerous exhibitions of late.
My passion for figurative painting, influenced and inspired by the works of many classical fine arts painters, from Bouguereau to Modigliani, has helped me develop a true sense of realism and convey both mood and atmosphere in my work. I simply adore light and am fascinated with its arguably undue influence on any subject. After all, without light, what is art? Unlike the vast majority of past and current artists, I delve extensively between the extremes of highlights and lowlights in my artwork, leaving the viewer's mind to fill in the gaps. I believe that the nude in particular is undoubtedly the ultimate natural subject in purity of form, and hence it features predominantly throughout my artwork.
To quote Shakespeare: "The excellence of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeables evaporate, from their being in their close relationship with beauty and truth."
Indeed, purchasing, owning and living with an original artwork is an exciting and extremely personal experience, whether it's a nude or not. It is also both satisfying and fulfilling, a way of seeing the world differently, seeing yourself differently, opening and challenging your thoughts to a different perspective and wider dimension, arousing your senses and stimulating your mind, let alone uniquely transforming an area of your home to one that you can truly be proud of. Art should be viewed, pondered, admired, exhibited, proudly displayed, carefully scrutinized, and to benefit to the fullest extent possible, it should be understood from the perspective of its creator - the artist. This is obviously not always quite as simple as it seems. Art should be a thing of beauty, not investment. My exhibitions should therefore hopefully be a friendly and enjoyable place to look at examples of my artwork, irrespective of whether you are interested in purchasing a piece.
In the words of Oscar Wilde: "The pleasure that one has in creating a work of art is a purely personal pleasure, and it is for the sake of this pleasure that one creates. The artist works with his eye on the object. Nothing else interests him. What people are likely to say does not even occur to him. He is fascinated by what he has in hand. He is indifferent to others. If my work pleases the few, I am gratified. If it does not, it causes me no pain."
My artwork is proudly displayed in galleries, corporate offices and the residences of private collectors worldwide, primarily in the USA. |
