I am one of those lucky people who has been fortunate to be able to pursue my passion for wildlife and painting in order to make a living. It's often said that painting is a relaxing activity, but through my 30 years as a professional artist there have been very few relaxing moment, unless I have fallen asleep before my easel. This is because to effectively communicate atmosphere and detail through the medium of watercolour requires perseverance and constant concentration.
As a self taught artist every painting is a fresh lesson in the medium, often paintings fail and the only answer is to tear them up and start again. Many might regard this as a disaster, however there is nothing more exciting than a fresh piece of paper and the time to start again.
My passion for painting sporting pictures come from a childhood of fishing and shooting. These were activities that many country lads became absorbed in once they were of an age to be trusted to stray more than a few fields away from the home and venture to meadow, moorland, lake and stream. I emphasise that for me this was not totally about shooting and fishing, every expedition immersed me in a landscape full of flora and fauna which intrigued my young mind. Light, landscape, and their ever fluid conjunction gave me an appreciation of atmosphere which today features in many of my watercolours. Days catching trout on my local stream were etched through with the sparkle of water flowing past riffle waving water weeds and the soundtrack of a burbling stream blended with the summer sounds of willow warbler and woodpigeon. What better training would you need for a future career as a sporting and wildlife artist?
I’m a member of the Redspot Artists group formed in 2001 by a collective of some of the finest wildlife artist in the UK. Together we are widely regarded as one of the most innovative artistic groups in our field producing work of the very highest standard in a diverse range of media - delicate watercolours , bold oils, detailed scraperboard and beaten metal sculptures.
The eight artists are defined by our talent and passion for representing our vision of nature and wildlife through our art. We are all deeply knowledgable about the rural environment and its wildlife and our commitment to conservation shines through everything we do. We have held numerous exhibitions throughout the UK over the past 18 years, our work is collected worldwide and has been reproduced in dozens of books and periodicals.