Profile

My background

I was born in Wales and grew up in Manchester where I currently live.

Early experience

School delivered my first art tuition – loved it. Later I learnt about illuminated manuscripts and tried to copy these. Calligraphy became a focus that led me to design posters right through school and university.

It was at university whilst studying anatomy (for medicine) that I took a new direction. The beauty and complexity of the human body became my new subject. Initially this was driven by the need to learn anatomy – I have always found this easier by drawing it. Later as I progressed in my surgical career, it was about drawing operative findings – the medical record. My career lead to plastic surgery – a creative branch of surgery – underpinned by anatomy, function and aesthetics.

Current

Many years later I picked up a paintbrush and started acrylic painting, then moving to oils in my own studio.

My art is influenced by my background in medicine and aesthetic plastic surgery. I am no stranger to human anatomy or the beauty of the human body. But surgery is extremely controlled – there is no fresh canvas to start again with and so much to lose. As an oil painter I gain a sense of creative freedom that I have missed. I am self-taught and it has gradually dawned on me that to achieve my aims requires as much discipline and practice as any surgical procedure – the images I want do not appear (for me) by rapid flourishes of the brush – but by hard work – in this sense it’s closer to surgery than I had first imagined.

I am a very visual person. When I look around a gallery, I will often come across work that I want to keep looking at, something that I keep returning to – this makes the trip for me. I paint large, strong, intense portraits, with deep colours, a beautiful depiction of women. My creative aims are both the picture itself and your response. Neither is enough on its own. I want you to find it hard to tear your eyes away from my paintings, to turn back to take another look, to figure out what they mean to you or what feelings they evoke because ultimately I believe, that’s all that really matters.

CV

‘Scarf’ painting selected for exhibition:

HARROGATE OPEN EXHIBITION
Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate Oct 2019-Jan 2020

Forth-coming exhibition of past and current work:

• The Arts Charity at Dean Clough (ACDC)
• Fletchers Mill, Halifax July-Oct 2020 (postponed due to Covid pandemic)