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As a child I loved getting out and exploring the surrounding countryside where I grew up in the Vale of the White Horse in Oxfordshire. I would find secluded places and build secret dens on my own or with friends. I enjoyed the feeling of being immersed in the landscape. At home my parents would say that I 'lived in a world of my own' and my school reports would say that I spent a lot of time 'daydreaming out of classroom windows'. But what I was really doing was playing visual games and making pictures in my mind of the world around me. And I would doodle incessantly in the margins of my exercise books! That's what I did more than anything else as a child: drawing!
I went on to study art and design at Oxford Brookes, followed by graphic design at London College of Printing and then fine art at Cheltenham College of Art. Here I immersed myself in painting- still daydreaming, but making the daydreams real with shape and form and colour.
After leaving college I had a number of jobs to keep the wolf from the door but resented anything which kept me from painting. Winning the Lloyd's Bank Young Printmaker Prize in 1983 gave me a fabulous opportunity to work on a commission in the famous Curwen studio in London. It also gave me the funds to be able to concentrate on my painting for a while. I supplemented this with some part time teaching.Since then I have exhibited my work in galleries throughout the UK and in Europe and have paintings in public and private collections throughout the world. I have worked on commissions for a wide range of locations, from cruise ships to hospitals. I have also continued teaching, which has become an important part of my life: it gives me a great feeling to see my students developing and finding their own individual ways of making art.
Ten years ago I moved to part of an old watermill by the River Wylye in South Wiltshire. This is my studio and home where I live with my wife Kate and daughter Millie. It is surrounded with water meadows, forest and downland. Everything I need is here: a perfect home, a wonderful family and a landscape that I can immerse myself in whenever I like!
