Meet the Artist

As a child I always loved to draw and paint, but my education (botany & zoology) and employment in a totally unrelated field resulted in me giving-up any form of artwork for almost 20 years. Thanks to enormous support from my wife, I eventually quit a safe and well paid office job for a more week-to-week career as a professional artist (established April 2004).

I like to draw and paint simply because the end result makes others happy (see my "Customer comments" page), and so makes me feel like I have done something worthwhile. By contrast, I can't claim that I ever managed to write a Business Case, or draft a Project Plan that made the recipient 'happy'.

Practical skills

I love/hate DIY, and have been working on the restoration of our home for the past 7 years. I love the starting and finishing of jobs, but it's the long period in between that I hate. My brother-in-law is an accomplished joiner, so I always have to approach my woodwork in the knowledge that it will be assessed and given marks out of 10!

The image (right) is a one of a pair of beside cabinets made earlier this year.

Music

During my late teens, I briefly worked as a professional musician. I'm now way beyond treating my music as anything more than a hobby, but I enjoy teaching guitar, and currently have a few students. I have very eclectic musical tastes.

My dog

A large part of my day is spent caring for, and exercising my dog. She has her own page in this site ("My dogs").

FreeHand Music

I am a FreeHand Music affiliate because this company offers a fantastic selection of sheet music at incredibly low prices. Free tabs are fine, but unfortunately very many of these "amateur" transcriptions are wrong; bum notes and incorrect playing positions. If you don't have the time or ability to copy music by ear, accurate sheet music can be a worthwhile purchase, especially when some scores cost less than £1.

Martyn Ellison of Double Stop Guitars has done a great job of maintaining my guitars.

All my frames and mounts are purchased from Factory Framing Centre.