INTRODUCTION - ABOUT THE ARTIST

During a relatively long career as a full-time lecturer and practising artist, my creative development has been at times slow and difficult to maintain. Juggling with responsibilities was far easier during the 70's and early 80's, but from 1985 my College role grew and my time to paint was severely restricted.

Nevertheless, I always managed to paint in the holidays, usually sketchbook studies abroad and planning large scale figurative works, often started and put on hold, or unfinished for several years. Smaller works and still-life in watercolour & dry media prevailed. Photo-montage and drawings in sketchbooks always with copious notes and serious intentions were often superseded by new ideas and unrealistic ambitions given my circumstances.

When my health deteriorated during 1997/98 resulting in heart-by-pass surgery, I was struggling to cope with the educational commitments and managing a huge department with many courses, students, staffing and financial concerns. Having resumed my role following surgery in January 1999, it became obvious after just 14 months that my health was not as it once was, and I was advised by my doctor/specialists to retire on illhealth grounds rather than provoke further heart problems.

In 2001, I had a small single storey studio built in my back garden where I have continued to paint full time to the present. This opportunity seems, in a perverse and ironic way "A Godsend", for without my major illness, I would probably have stayed in education until natural retirement; never having the chance to pursue my creative goals.

Since this time, many of the themes I planned earlier in my sketchbooks have come to fruition and the works completed, albeit in a reconstructed and reconsidered way. Photography has for many years been used as a starting point for my paintings and to save a record of finished work. Since the late 90's , I have used digital software to manipulate my work and edit my images. Until recently, I have used 35mm & mid-format film cameras and it took me a while to "go digital" (although I still have my old cameras). Now I have a much more open-minded and experimental approach to digital imagery and find the speed of transposing ideas, collaging with multi-media source material, making changes in seconds, etc, extremely exhilarating. It creates a wonderful counterpoint to the often painstaking and time-intensive aspects of painting, which can take months to complete.

It has also expanded my love of colour and abstraction, bringing a new impetus and output, especially through the images I have created specifically for Print. *see "Prints" 2000-2009.

Whilst I have had my share of set-backs in the past few years, including losing my dear Dad in 2001, my best friend Laurence in 2007, having more surgery for bladder cancer, and another bypass heart operation in 2008, I love my days in the studio and feel blessed to have whatever time is left with my family and my work to sustain me.

This "Virtual Gallery" would not have been possible without the expert help of my son Dan and his technical prowess, for which I am truly grateful. I would like to dedicate this site to my family for all the love and support they have given me, in sickness and in health over the years.