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As a child I loved getting out and
exploring the surrounding countryside where I grew up in the Vale of the White
Horse in Oxfordshire. I would find secluded places and build secret dens on my
own or with friends. I enjoyed the feeling of being immersed in the landscape.
At home my parents would say that I 'lived in a world of my own' and my school
reports would say that I spent a lot of time 'daydreaming out of classroom
windows'. But what I was really doing was playing visual games and making
pictures in my mind of the world around me. And I would doodle incessantly in
the margins of my exercise books! That's what I did more than anything else as a
child: drawing!
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I went on to study art and design at
Oxford Brookes, followed by graphic design at London College of Printing and
then fine art at Cheltenham College of Art. Here I immersed myself in painting-
still daydreaming, but making the daydreams real with shape and form and colour.
After leaving
college I had a number of jobs to keep the wolf from the door but resented
anything which kept me from painting. Winning the Lloyd's Bank Young Printmaker
Prize in 1983 gave me a fabulous opportunity to work on a commission in the
famous Curwen studio in
London. It also
gave me the funds to be able to concentrate on my painting for a while. I
supplemented this with some part time teaching. Since
then I have exhibited my work in galleries throughout the
UK and in
Europe and have
paintings in public and private collections throughout the world. I have worked
on commissions for a wide range of locations, from cruise ships to hospitals. I
have also continued teaching, which has become an important part of my life: it
gives me a great feeling to see my students developing and finding their own
individual ways of making art.
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Ten years ago I moved to part of an old watermill by
the River Wylye in South Wiltshire. This is my studio and home where I live
with my wife Kate and daughter Millie. It is surrounded with water meadows,
forest and downland. Everything I need is here: a perfect home, a wonderful
family and a landscape that I can immerse myself in whenever I like!
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