ABOUT
My earliest memories are painting with my dad, a keen amateur watercolourist. He taught me how to recognise paints by their taste (!) — I remember Rose Madder being particularly sweet. Paint and colour have always been a multi-sensory experience for me.
I graduated from the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University, and was offered a place at the Royal College of Art. I couldn't make the finances work, so became an Art Director in advertising. For 30 years I worked alongside some of the world's best directors, photographers, artists and designers.
On my 50th birthday I quit my job to become a full-time artist. I moved to the Isle of Wight and established my studio in an old coach house surrounded by rolling countryside.
I've exhibited in the UK and abroad, including the National Portrait Gallery, Saatchi Gallery and Modern Art Oxford. In 2026 I was selected as Programme Artist for Affordable Art Fair Battersea.
"Whether it's a splash of colour in a sunny room, or a dash of comfort to a troubled mind, I want my paintings to lift the soul."
Looking for beauty in a fragile world is the thread running through my paintings.
I work intuitively, usually in series, building a painting directly on the surface. I make a mess and then tidy it up — creating shapes and marks, looking for those unexpected moments when two colours sing or two forms seem to dance together.
Colour provides the emotion. I think of it in musical terms — jazz, dance, minimalism, Baroque — and there is nearly always music playing while I paint.
I'm an optimist by nature. My paintings are a celebration of life — its beauty, its fragility and its pleasures.
EDUCATION
2020 Turps Art School
1983 Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University (BA)
AWARDS
2023 Jackson's Art Prize, Shortlist
2023 Sunny Art Prize, Shortlist
2021 Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize, Winner
2021 Quay Arts Biennial, Selected Artist
2018 Wytham Hall Art Prize, Winner
2016 Winsor and Newton Oil Painting prize, Winner - Royal Society of Marine Artists
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS / ART FAIRS
2026
Programme Artist, Affordable Art Fair, Battersea
2024
Botanical, Ventnor Botanical Gallery, Isle of Wight
Defining Lines, The Stratford Gallery, Broadway
Nomad, Great Suffolk St, London
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
2023
British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London
Rising Artists, Jackson’s Art, Bankside Gallery, London
Affordable Art Fair, London
2022
London Art Fair
Oxmarket Open, Chichester
2021
Spiritus Mundi, Ashurst Emerging Artist Gallery, London
Quay Arts Biennial, Isle of Wight
2019
Creekside Open, London — curated by Brian Griffiths