BIOGRAPHY

Inspiration and Early Years

My Irish grandfather was my first and greatest inspiration. As a child, I watched him paint in his flat near London Bridge. The smell of linseed oil and white spirit still reminds me of those days in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Whilst studying A-Level Art, I met Henry Moore, who gave tours of his studios in Perry Green, Hertfordshire, in the early 1980s to small groups of art students. He talked about his working process while creating his small maquettes. The whole experience made a huge impact on me.

After a foundation course at Watford School of Art and a Fine Art degree at Birmingham School of Art, I worked as a screen printer for a couple of years to save up to study and live in Southern Spain. From 1989 to 1990, I studied Spanish at Malaga University, near Picasso’s birthplace in the city centre.

I have painted landscapes in Ronda, Andalusia, since the early 1980s and still love it there. Ronda was home to the great David Bomberg, who continues to inspire me to this day.

Competitions

  • 2013: Awarded 2nd Prize, 2013 Derwent Art Prize, Mall Galleries, The Mall, London. Also exhibited at the Pencil Museum, Keswick, Cumbria.

Solo Exhibitions

  • 2025: Lauderdale House, Highgate, London, N6

  • 2018: Victoria Train Station, London, SW1 (In aid of Macmillan Cancer Support)

  • 2016: Hertford Theatre, Hertford, Hertfordshire

  • 2012: Reading Room Gallery, Frith Street, Soho, London, W1

  • 2011: GSK House, Brentford

  • 2010: Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Church, Euston Road, London, NW1

  • 2010: Reading Room Gallery, Frith Street, Soho, London, W1

  • 2009: Courtyard Art Gallery, Hertford

  • 1994: Forty Hall, Enfield, Middlesex

  • 1992: Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London

  • 1991: Watford Central Library, Hempstead Road, Herts

  • 1990: Malaga University, Malaga City Centre, Spain

Group Exhibitions

  • 2023: Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, Piccadilly, London (13 Jun – 20 Aug 2023)

  • 2014, 2016, 2018: Stars on Canvas, Regent Street (2014) & Piccadilly (2016, 2018)

  • 2014: Draw, Hertford Theatre, Hertford, Hertfordshire

  • 2013: Derwent Art Prize, Pencil Museum, Keswick, Cumbria (Dec 2013 – Jan 2014)

  • 2013: Derwent Art Prize, The Mall Galleries, The Mall, London

  • 2012: Fields of Vision, Orleans House Gallery, Riverside, Twickenham, TW1 3DJ

  • 2011: Parallax Art Fair, La Galleria, Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London, SW1

  • 2010: Cross My Art, 210 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, London (with Stuart McAlpine Miller)

  • 2008: Artshed Hertfordshire Open Arts Fair, Artshed, West Mill Farm, Ware, Herts

  • 2000: Ealing Theatre, London (with John Butcher)

  • 1995: North East Artists Open, Middlesbrough

Commissions Undertaken

  • 2017: Clapham Junction Commission, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support

  • 2014: Artist in Residence at Tower 42, City of London (October – December)

  • 2012: Commissioned to paint Blackfriars Station by the construction company

  • 2011: Commissioned to produce a 20ft oil on canvas triptych of the Thames for Most Bar, Tower Bridge, Shad Thames, SE1

  • 2011: Commissioned to paint BBC Radio London Routemaster Bus

  • 2008: Commissioned to paint a large canvas of Hertford County Hall (This hangs in the office of the Leader of Hertfordshire County Council, County Hall)