I was born and bred in Lancashire and moved to the Market Harborough in the East Midlands in 1995.
I used to work as a volunteer with a local wildlife hospital and painted glass and china to help raise funds. However I realised I wasn't satisfied with what I was achieving and, after being inspired by an artist who painted at a fund raising event that I helped to organise, decided to attend a local art class run by a wonderful artist called Vince Amos. Vince helped me enormously to gain confidence and knowledge.
Since then I attended a a weekend course at Flatford Mill with Colin Bradley - a big influence in my use of pastel pencil. I also attended a course with the amazing Janet Shearer down in Cornwall. Janet taught me how to understand perspective, choose colours to represent light and shade, and to paint murals. I would recommend her course on Trompe l'oeil unreservedly.
I have also attended a one day workshop with Linda Wain who does some fantastic paintings in Chromacolour.
I decided to improve my drawing skills and completed a correspondence course in drawing, followed later by a Painting and Drawing Diploma correspondence course at the London Art School, which I passed with a commendation.
I entered the SAA Wildlife and Portrait beginners category 12 months after I started painting classes and won the first prize with a painting of a stalking leopard.
I am a member of the Wildlife Art Society International and exhibit each year in the Midlands exhibition, where I have sold most of my wildlife paintings to date. The local organiser of this association is Sarais Crawshaw, who was my inspiration at the wildlife fundraising event I mentioned above. A hugely talented artist who works ceaselessly to make the exhibitions a success.
I also have exhibited in Paws competition with Roy Chaffin since 2001 and each year have been lucky enough to be a finalist. Sadly Roy no longer runs this competition, but does operate some excellent workshops.
On top of all that, I work full time as Head of Call Centres for Thomson Holidays. A rewarding but demanding job that means I don't get as much time as I would like to paint.
I would like to thank the many friends at work who's commissions are shown here, for their support and compliments. It is a real delight to give so much pleasure to others with something as simple but effective as a portrait.
