Artist profile

They say make drawing your best friend. The relationship will last a lifetime.

About

I grew up in the North West of England in Cheshire which still forms a strong part of my heritage and outlook. I first knew that drawing was going to be important to me when I went on a trip to Chester Zoo and sat in the monkey house drawing a chimpanzee for 4 hours. We shared a special connection that I remember to this day. Drawing fascilitated this and over the years I have found that it has opened my life to connections to people and places that no other activity allows. The core of that visual and mental enquiry remains today whether I am drawing a dance class or in the landscape.
My formal artistic journey started at The Cheshire School of Art and Design followed by a degree at Manchester Polytechnic in the 1980's where I studied illustration. My tutors included David Hughes (childrens illustrator and caricaturist) & Tony Ross (childrens illustrator). I then completed a post graduate communications course at Central St Martins in London at the dawn of the internet. This transitioned me into the IT industry enabling me to keep a foot in the tech world and one in the fine art world. I have recently completed a year at The Royal Drawing School on their post graduate Online Drawing Development Year (2022-23).
I have worked consistenly for over 30+ years as a Freelance Illustrator, UX Designer & Fine Art Printmaker (Oxford Printmakers Cooperative). My latest work focuses on fashion illustration, printmaking, drawing and painting live dance in collaboration with a range of choreographers and Ballet Rambert in London.

Artist statement

I capture and visualise life as it happens around me. My inspiration comes to me only by looking and keeping an eye out for the off-chance moment of beauty that can be reflected in anything around me. I try and grab those moments either from memory or record it on the fly. Then I use the visual record to flow into a new line of work using a medium that fits what I want to express. Examples of this include my daughter jumping in the waves on a Norfolk beach or drawing in a live concert and translating the emotional flow of the music or painting in the dance studio feeling the dancer’s movement within my own body while connecting that flow into my painting hand. The subject can be anything, but the key is connecting with the subject at a level beyond mere representation. The work is lifeless unless my audience recognises it from their own experience and makes an emotional connection. This only comes from honest interpretation.

Artistic practice

I draw something from the world around me every day, it's the bedrock of my art practice. The subject dictates the level of enquiry and discovery. I see myself more as a recording device using my drawing and painting skills to capture life as it unfolds around me. Of course this is now also online in the digital sphere as much as painting the real world. I flip between drawing a fashion illustration one day to painting live dance or roam the landscape en plein air with oils and canvas. The more a draw and paint the richer and more varied my mark making library expands in complexity and range enabling me to capture more and more complex subjects with confidence.

I believe that the subjects you capture dictate what medium to use, as the subject invokes a felt expressive response that guides the language of a type of mark and range of media. When capturing live dance for instance the feel and expression of a dancer requires a media that enables a fast intuitive response on a large surface area. I only employ traditional artistic rules and conventions such as color usage and composition when it suits the aims of the work in hand.

I avoid ever repeating myself and try to use new materials and approaches to challenge and provoke new visual outcomes. This increases the failure but out of that constant experimentation come breakthroughs and happy accidents that lead you down new artistic paths. New discovery is only born from trial and error and borrowing ideas from those who trod the road before you, employing them in a new way.

As you look through my artwork you will see the wide variety of genres I have worked in whether its drawing fashion, dance, illustrating literature, fine art printmaking, plein air landscape painting or 3d digital design. The common denominator is that the inspiration is primarily from real life.

If I were to look back on my achievements as an artist and illustrator I would count having my work in public collections such as The Bodleian Library, illustrated books published by Oxford University Press, paintings and drawings in a multitude of private collections.

What is more important than the outcome is the experience of the creative journey.
As Frank Auerbach said, 'Its something to keep us busy while we inhabit this small spec of rock'.

Education

Art training history:

• Foundation course - Cheshire college of Art and Design
• Illustration BA Degree - Manchester Polytechnic
• Multimedia studies, Post graduate - Central St Martins
• 3D Design (Maya) - Escape Studios
• Online Drawing Development Year (2022 - 23) - Royal Drawing School

Art portfolio