A grammar schoolboy from Epsom, I’ve painted for as long as I can remember but I loved playing football. I captained England Schoolboys and signed for West Ham at the age of 16 but two years on, when injury, disillusionment and “A” levels intervened, I joined an aircraft company, took a first degree then a Master’s and a lifelong career in aerospace followed. I’m a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and received its Distinguished Service Award in 2020. I’m a contributor to the UK Military Strategy HQ Defence Futures Forum, organised by RAND and led by Sir Rich Knighton, Chief of the Defence Staff
Photography, drawing and painting continued to fill any spare time but, in the 1980s, I graduated from painting cards and posters for friends and family by joining Antonia Black’s (click her name to see her work) Watercolour Workshop. In her Victorian studio near the Thames at Kingston, Antonia provided the technical guidance, drive and inspiration to our small group of artists. We exhibited our work locally in Richmond and Kingston and I sold my first paintings - 40 years ago now!
Over the last 15 years, I’ve painted mainly in oils and permanently exhibit and sell my work at the Mulberry Tree Gallery in Swanage on the Isle of Purbeck. I’ve completed a number of private commissions and have exhibited with both the Molesey Art Society and the Purbeck Artists’ collective at a number of locations in Dorset and along the Thames in Surrey, from Richmond and Kingston to Molesey and Walton. This fertile ground for painters, made popular by the Impressionists. I’ve also held a number of solo exhibitions, opening my studio to visitors at the foot of Ballard Down between Studland and Swanage and in the Winning Gallery in Hampton Court Village
I’m very proud to have been the Swanage Lifeboat Station’s Artist in Residence as it celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2005. It has been a rare privilege to witness the work of such inspiring and talented people and I’ve had the daunting task of capturing this in an initial series of six paintings. Displayed at the Anniversary Celebration in September last year, they will again be shown this year during the Station’s “Launch a Memory” lifeboat programme, involving up to 10,000 donors.
As you’ll see from MY WORK, my paintings are drawn from life: observations of recreation, work and service in the UK
