Print - 12” x 10” - Mounted - Signed

£94.00

I am self-taught in painting, having studied earth sciences to PhD level at university and then, as a mature student, forestry, rather than fine art. Much of my adult life has been spent working out-doors and probably because of this landscape and the natural environment are my main inspiration. Currently I work mainly in oil, pastel and watercolour, doing lots of small outside studies, which include some of my best work. Large oils are developed either from the outside sketches or, in the case of semi/abstract paintings, are products of memory and my imagination. Both pastel and watercolour are not only convenient for working outdoors but also enable me to get the effects I want, subtlety with soft pastel and watercolour, bold bright colours with oil pastel. I use charcoal or graphite when I’m concerned with pattern and tone rather than colour.

My work varies enormously in scale and focus and whilst I enjoy making small highly detailed studies of nature – say a feather or a leaf, I also love to try to capture the huge sweep of a sky, a bare landscape or the essence of something I’ve seen with little or no detail and most of the emphasis on atmosphere. I travel a good deal and in recent years have painted not only in Cornwall but also in Scotland, Wales, Eire, northern France, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, California, Japan and Australia.
Over the years I’ve shown in a number of Cornish galleries, including recently Tremenheere, Gulval and Far and Wild, Perranporth. I’ve also shown quite widely elsewhere in the UK, including London and have been included in the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition four times. In 2015 one of my landscapes was included in the RA’s own selection ‘Best of British’; I’ve also been shortlisted on a number of other occasions.