“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Pablo Picasso
From the time I could hold a pencil in my hand, at a very early age, I’ve always wanted to express myself by drawing. Later, with help from my late mother, I started to use watercolours to tint the drawings, buildings being my favourite subject matter. I also enjoyed using my late father’s tools to make wooden trolleys/go carts with the old style large pram wheels – the wooden bodywork painted to look like formula one racing cars – I was a huge fan of F1 racing in the 1970’s and into the early 80’s.
I have always been inspired by the landscape near to my home town of Ashbourne (the watercolour of Sturston Mill Lane below was painted when I was in my late teens – 40+ years on and the scene is still much the same).
Living in such a beautiful area of the UK has given me a lot of inspiration for my work. It has a magnetic attraction for me personally, I don’t think there’s any place in the UK (or the world for that matter) that could match the unique character and subtle beauty of the Peak District National Park, the southern boundary being just five miles up the road from Ashbourne. It was the main reason I returned after studying for three years in Norfolk, which is a beautiful county in its own right, but no match for the Derbyshire Dales or High Peak!
Ashbourne, Derbyshire, is a very attractive market town with an interesting history. It is mainly associated with agriculture and there are several limestone quarries in the nearby Peak District landscape north of the town (resulting in lots of very large HGV’s passing through the town on their way south alas). In the last century it had its own large factory mill building producing corsets under the product name ‘Excelsior’. Ashbourne is often referred to as the ‘gateway’ to the Peak District National Park and is a popular with tourists during the summer.
Samual Johnson, famed for compiling the first English language dictionary, was a regular visitor to the town in the 18th century. Great musician and composer, George Fridric Handel was also familiar with the area while he lived in the UK. He donated manuscripts of his music to the owner of nearby Calwich Abbey for his library (the original building of that era was replaced by a Victorian one that is now derelict).
The town has a very strong sporting tradition – having its own ancient ‘Royal Shrovetide Football’ game dating back many centuries – held on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday each year. The two millstone ‘goals’ are three miles apart and are built into the north facing bank of the Henmore Brook – at Sturston for the ‘Up’ards’ side and at Clifton for the ‘Down’ards’ side – with the town itself roughly in the middle where ball play often takes place in the streets until there is a break to one of goals, usually after nightfall. The finely hand painted ball (handmade with a cork interior and leather exterior) is scored by being tapped against the millstone by an individual team player three times – supported by other team players whilst in the brook. It becomes a valuable family heirloom for the lucky player. The ball is ‘turned’ up at the start of play at 2pm on each day (and also each time after a goal is scored before 6 pm – play can go on until 10 pm – but as soon as a goal is scored after 6pm play ends) by either a distinguished (‘retired’) player or a local dignitary (previously turned up by two former Princes of Wales – Edward VIII and Charles III). My late uncle, Jack Clarke, goaled a ball for the Up’ards side in 1954. Similar versions of this game were once played in many towns throughout the UK centuries ago, the ancestor of the modern rugby football game.
Education
I was educated at the local comprehensive school in Ashbourne, ‘Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School’ before completing a Foundation Course in Art & Design at the former Derby College of Higher Education. I then spent three wonderfully creative years studying for a degree in graphic design at Norwich School of Art (1981-84) where I achieved a 1st. In 1985, with the support of my parents and the MSC Enterprise Allowance Scheme, I started out as a self-employed visual artist and furniture designer/maker. From 1986 to 2006 I worked as a part-time adult education tutor for Derbyshire County Council teaching painting and drawing skills. I did some private painting classes at my home in Ashbourne for a number of years just before the Covid 19 pandemic,. During the ‘lock down’ periods of the pandemic I produced a number of watercolour painting tutorial videos to send to some of my students.
Foreground
I currently live on the edge of Ashbourne with my wife, who is a teacher and musician and our collie cross dog, ‘Star Kiara’ (our teenage daughter, Kerryn, is now away studying for a science degree in Geography near Brighton – not that far from her brother John – but still thinks of Ashbourne as her home town).
We both enjoy listening to music from all over the world but we especially appreciate contemporary traditional Irish music. 
We like to play traditional tunes ourselves (having originally met at a trad. music session) attending an open instrumental session twice a month in a lovely old Ashbourne pub called the ‘Smiths Tavern’ (3rd Sunday from 2.30pm> and 4th Monday from 7.30pm>).
I still enjoy listening to new wave music that dates back to my early 1980’s art school days (esp. Cocteau Twins). I also enjoy listening to contemporary and classic rock/dub reggae/ska/old hip hop/electro bands and all genres of good music (inc new sounds played on BBC 6music,, always good to be educated in new sounds!).
I like to have music playing in the background when I’m working in the studio and have recently been listening to more classical music (esp. Beethoven’s piano pieces) and jazz music (esp. Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Miles Davis and associates) either on the radio, CD or online.
When time allows, we enjoy our walks in the Peak District (with sketch pad or camera to hand) with our lively Romanian rescue dog, Star, mentioned earlier.
As a sideline, in terms of extra work, since 2020 I have been working for Railway Paths Ltd (a charity in connection to Sustrans – the cycling network charity) annually inspecting/photographing bridges, viaducts and culverts on several disused railway lines all over the East Midlands.
I hope you enjoy viewing my work on this site, any comments you would like to make about my work would be very much appreciated.
