Overview
As you can see I specialise in capturing the female form – subtle, classical nudes in oil, charcoal, graphite and red chalk.
Born in Henley, I spent most of my adult life in London, Hong Kong and Dublin. I am now happily settled in Windsor.
I abandoned a successful career in publishing at the age of 40 to follow my lifelong passion – drawing and painting (my mother was a very talented, yet untrained artist and an award-winning jeweller so art was always happening around me).
I trained at a leading art college in London and was then taught by Michael Clark, who knew Francis Bacon very well (and incidentally the only person to draw him in the flesh) – his wonderful tonal paintings and drawings left indelible marks on me and inspire me to this day.
I had been going to life-drawing classes for many years so continuing to use the figure as my subject was a natural progression.
My work has been included in the books ‘Images of Women in Art’ and ‘Musings of Miss Yellow’.
As well as being a stay-at-home Dad, I now paint from my Windsor studio and run my own life-drawing classes at the Windsor Art Centre.
Technique/method
I work from photographs these days as my work can take months. I book an hour’s shoot at a local photogaphy studios with models I like. I usually end up with 3-400 photos of which around 15 may make it to my studio.
I tend to have a number of paintings on the go at any one time as I get bored easily (and stuck sometimes too). I like to think that things I learn from one image can be used on another.
The paintings are built up with loads and loads of very thin layers, they can be quite fiddly and intricate at first but it’s very important to try to keep them looking spontaneous and free.
It’s very important not to just fill a painting in and in my opinion what makes a picture a work of art, is the decisions the maker makes along the way – for example, playing down or omitting unimportant bits and focusing on more important areas. This way you can change the balance of the image – detail from less interesting parts do not compete with the more interesting/important parts. I have learnt that the mind tends to fill in blank parts as long as it is given enough information and knowing the moment when you get to this point is key. The less is more principal.
At the end of each day I use up all my leftover paint on experimental canvases – no restrictions, just playing and experimenting.
Galleries
You can see my work at the following galleries (usually by appointment)
Belgravia Gallery (London)
Box Galleries (London)
Art Pistol (Glasgow)
Singulart (Paris)
My work is regularly featured on Saatchi online and even in The Saatchi Art Catalogue.
Past Exhibitions
Discerning Eye 2017.
Home House 2017 (Joint Show).
Box galleries (London). Joint Show 2016 – ‘FORM’.
The Art Gemini Prize
The Affordable Art Fair
The Royal Pastel Society annual exhibition.
Foreign Correspondents’ Club (Hong Kong).
First Prize – Maidenhead Rotary Club
First Prize – Rotary International
Chelsea Old Town Hall.
Books & Publications
My work –‘ The Letter’ – was on show at last year’s Discerning Eye Competition and other work has been featured in 2 books – ‘Images of Women in Art’ and ‘Musings of Miss Yellow’.
Media Coverage
Saatchi Online (Inside The Studio)