Background

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”  Pablo Picasso

 

From a very early age I’ve always wanted to create images and make things, as cliched as it might sound. I spent a great deal of time during my early childhood drawing pictures mainly of buildings – later using watercolour paint to tint the drawings. I also enjoyed using my late father’s tools to make wooden trolleys/go carts using old style pram wheels, the wooden bodywork painted to look like formula one racing cars (which was a bit of an obsession into my teens – also making card models of ‘Brabham’s’, Lotus’s and McClaren’s…).

I have always been inspired by the  landscape near to my home town of Ashbourne (the watercolour of Sturston 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 ambience of the surrounding scenery of Ashbourne, especially the subtle beauty of the Peak District National Park being just five miles up the road. It drew me back after studying for three years in Norfolk, which is a beautiful county in its own right, but no match for the Derbyshire Dales!

My home town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, is a very attractive market town with a long history associated mainly with agriculture and is often referred to as the ‘gateway’ to the Peak District National Park. It has a very strong sporting tradition – having its own ancient ‘Royal Shrovetide Football’ game 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. The finely 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, having been originally ‘turned’ up at the start of play (at 2pm on each day) by either a distinguished (‘retired’) player or a local dignitary. This game, once played in many towns throughout the UK centuries ago, was the ancestor of the modern rugby football game. Samual Johnson, known to have compiled the first English language dictionary, was a regular visitor to the town in the 18th century and George Frideric Handel was also familiar with the area having donated manuscripts of his music to the library at nearby Calwich Hall.

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After completing a Foundation Course in Art & Design at  the former Derby College of Higher Education, I spent three wonderfully creative years studying for a degree in graphic design at Norwich School of Art (1981-84). 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 currently live on the edge of Ashbourne with my (very supportive) wife, who is a teacher and musician, along with our teenage daughter. We both enjoy listening to music from all over the world, especially contemporary traditional Irish music by the likes of Sharon Shannon, Lunasa, Dervish, Danu, Altan, Solas, Christy Moore and Van Morrison. We also like to play traditional tunes ourselves having jointly started an open music session twice a month in a lovely old Ashbourne pub called the ‘Smiths Tavern’. I still listen to music that dates back to my art school days such as the Cocteau Twins, New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen and the Clash amongst others and enjoy listening to contemporary bands like the Fleet Foxes and Arcade Fire to name but a few. I always like to have music playing in the background when I’m working in the studio and recently I have been listening to more classical and jazz music on the radio or through Spotify.

When time allows we always enjoy our walks in the Peak District (with sketch pad or camera to hand) with our lively Romanian rescue dog ‘Star Kiara’.

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.

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