Born 1947 in London. Moved with parents to Stevenage, Warfield (nr Bracknell), then finally Woodcote, (Oxon) before joining the Royal Navy the week that JFK was assassinated in 1963. Moved to Nottingham in 1974 on leaving the Navy. Night school courses in oil painting, and enamelling in 1976/77 under tuition of Liz Wood followed. Joined Arnold Art Society in 1997 where I learned new techniques, in Watercolour and Pastels. Parents moved to South Africa in the 70s, and on one of my visits there, went to Johannesburg in the Gauteng Province and Durban in Kwazulu Natal in Y2K. (Africa2000). This produced some paintings of local African Street Traders. In November 2005, whilst visiting family, I went on a 4 day/night excursion to a ‘lodge’ in the bushveld in Marloth Park which borders on the Kruger National Park along the Crocodile River. I was able to take many photographs of wildlife there, notably of a small herd of wild zebra which provided me with a set of paintings, mainly of ‘Spike’ who fed out of our hands, and allowed me to briefly touch his mane. I also like painting people in their environment, showing the character of the area of which they are from.

Awarded the Mayor’s Salver in 2001 and also 2004 at the Arnold Art Society’s Spring Exhibition for ‘Best in Theme’ paintings, one of which was in pastel, and the other a combination of watercolour, pencil, and coloured pencil. I like to stray from the normal in painting, and use colours to convey moods, rather than use the colours I see before me. I also use my paintings to write poetry, and laminated A6 cards with a poem and painting are available. There is also an increasing set of poems recounting life in the 50’s and 60’s, and I may be contacted via the means below: