About

In short…

I am a self-taught contemporary artist specialising in landscapes and figurative works that convey a sense of place. A colourist, I love to interweave narratives into landscapes using vibrant hues to add contrast and to bring storytelling to the fore.

A little more about me…

Born and raised in the rural High Weald of East Sussex, I have been surrounded by nature from an early age. As an only child to a terminally ill mother and a father who ran his own business, I was often left to my own devices. I’d often go wandering down the quiet no-through lane where I grew up, which became narrower and more overgrown the further it snaked its way downhill. These memories have helped to forge my love of painting landscapes and I feel most at home in nature. But my adult life has mostly been spent in cities – where there’s always something going on and a story to convey through my work.

Although I’ve always loved art – I seem to remember convincing my parents to let me go to my secondary school simply because I loved the art on display – my life took a different path…

My mother died a week before I joined the secondary school, aged 11, and I suddenly had to “grow up” pretty rapidly. Helping out at home, a focus on my schoolwork and an evening/weekend job at 16 became the priorities, so there was little room for hobbies.

I soon went to university to study Geography, then again to complete a Masters in Journalism – I suddenly found that words, instead of paints, became my creative output. But, as I progressed in my career, it was clear to me that something was missing…

It was only during the Coronavirus lockdown of 2020 that I realised what that missing piece was. Now, here I am, painting whenever I can, and I couldn’t be happier during those moments of creative freedom.

How it all (re)started…

With the 2020 coronavirus lockdown imposed and my previously-taken-for-granted freedom lost, I found myself at home with a partner deemed “highly vulnerable” to this mysterious new virus.

A letter from the government warned to “stay inside… and open a window if necessary”. So there we were, bound by four walls (albeit bedecked in classy Farrow & Ball tones). But what to do now?

My day job was to promote London and its culture, so I soon discovered the city’s world-class galleries were sharing virtual editions of current exhibitions and videos of previous blockbuster shows.

I’d missed David Hockney’s 2012 show A Bigger Picture, and 82 Portraits and 1 Still-Life from 2016 in person, so I chose the next best thing: culture from the couch. One Saturday morning I settled down to these incredible shows by one of my favourite artists.

Inspired, I hunted for paintbrushes and acrylics bought years before but never touched. Using photographs, I first painted memories of holidays – escapes that I could now only dream of – and then friends, family, cherished places and local spots. See my latest work.

As someone who suffers from depression, which is often bubbling under the surface, painting soon became key to my weekly routine. Grateful to still be in employment in this difficult period, I used painting as a tool to relax at weekends and to lose myself during evenings, a therapy of sorts to keep the black dog away in those worrying times.

A present of a field easel followed that Christmas, and with it came the world as my artistic oyster (after the latest round of stay-at-home restrictions were eased, obviously).

My inspiration is not just drawn from Hockney. I dig Doig, delight in Diebenkorn, go nuts for Nash (John), marvel at Munch and revel in Ravilious (who expertly painted my home county of East Sussex). But not forgetting emerging artists, who are flooding Instagram with their scroll-stopping works.

How it’s going…

In 2023, I entered my work “Still Stream At Furnace Wood” into the prestigious Jackson’s Painting Prize (now called Jackson’s Art Prize). After a rigorous selection process, I made the final shortlist of 71 entries, whittled down from more than 11,000 worldwide entrants – a mix of both professional and amateur artists.

My work was included alongside other finalists in the “Rising Artists” exhibition, held at Bankside Gallery in summer 2023.

Watch my interview from the exhibition.

I was again longlisted for Jackson’s Art Prize in 2025 for my work “Mum, me and Milford Sound”.

What’s next?

I’m just at the start of my journey and will continue to learn and evolve. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Please get in touch if you want to commission a painting, buy my work or are just keen to find out more about the man behind the easel.