Untitled Document

I was born in West Hartlepool in 1946, and went to the local Art School before moving to London in 1965, where I studied at St. Martin's and Camberwell Schools of Art, graduating with a Dip.A.D. in Painting & Printmaking. I spent three years in London teaching part time while developing my own work, and married Mary, a graphic designer. Thirty years on she is still my wife and still a graphic designer, and we have collaborated on many projects over the years. In 1973 I moved back to the north, this time to Cumbria, where I went into teaching full time, and was Head of Art in schools in Workington and Windermere.

I continued to work as an artist, with regular one man exhibitions, developing an idiosyncratic style of mixed media drawing, based largely on intimate urban landscapes. The work, a contrast to the more typical landscape painting of the region, attracted local attention and sold well. In 1982 I exhibited at the Mall Galleries in London for the first time, and in the following years exhibited with the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Society of Marine Artists and the New English Art Club.

A mild stroke brought my career to an abrupt halt, and for eighteen months I was unable to draw or paint, but by 1986 I was able to show new work again, and won the Rexel Award at the Royal Institute. With the increasing pressures of teaching and after effects of the stroke, I abandoned exhibiting altogether, and spent the next decade working in sketchbooks, developing a more immediate approach, reflecting the changed nature of my perception following my illness.

I travelled widely in Spain, with the sketchbooks as constant companions, recording sights, encounters and reactions. These books are the source of nearly all the work I now produce.

In 1997 I left teaching to devote my time at last entirely to my own work. In 1998 I had a one man exhibition, 'Carlisle to Cádiz', at Upfront Gallery in Penrith; in 1999 a group show, 'Transient States', at Lowes Court Gallery, and in 2001 was back at Upfront with 'Pilgrim's Progress'.