Born in Cumbria, I have enjoyed a multi-faceted career in the arts.

I first studied set painting and theatrical design before taking up the post of lighting designer at Harrogate Theatre in 1969. During that time, I also produced murals and trompes l'œil in numerous commercial and private locations. I have produced many commissions for murals, pet portraits and private houses, many of these being reproduced as personalised stationery, prints and calendars.

 

Up to my developing Parkinson’s Disease in 2011, I also owned and ran a company, The Paint Effect, specialising in hand-painted kitchens and furniture. This gave me the opportunity to utilise my theatre-based skills of marbling, stencilling, graining and other fine decorative effects.

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Born out of necessity, due to my illness, I have had to turn my back on my tried and tested pencils and brushes and venture into the uncharted waters of the digital world, with some trepidation. However, within a short while I have managed not only to embrace this ‘new technology’ but found it has opened a productive and beguiling love for the medium.

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My re-working of the northern landscape draws on inspiration from several disparate sources. I like the mid-twentieth century travel posters created for British Railways by the likes of Ronald Lampitt, Norman Wilkinson and Leonard Richmond. Their reductive style fascinates me. Their dispensing with detail in no way diminishes the beauty of the landscape, in fact it increases the viewer’s emotional response.

 

Another major influence is J.M.W. Turner, especially his coastal castles at Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh. More recently I have been introduced to artists such as Yvette Earl, known for her bold use of colour and outlining in her paintings.

 

My main body of work tends to centre around the three northern counties of Northumberland, Cumbria and my adopted home county, North Yorkshire where I live in a small village with my wife and two dogs.