I've always loved drawing. Some of my earliest and happiest memories are sitting at home, knee-high to a grasshopper, filling pages upon pages with drawings.
On leaving school it seemed a logical (if unwise and financially questionable) move to enrol on an art and design foundation course at a local college, before studying illustration at what was then Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall, a picturesque corner of the south western corner of Britain.
Subsequently released into the wild, I picked up the occasional commission for illustration work - book covers, greetings cards, illustrations to accompany magazine articles and so on - before leaving the illustration world behind and taking on some 'proper jobs', lured by the promise of a reliable source of income.
Hearing once more the call of the brushes and paint, I returned to the art world, this time concentrating on commissions for portrait paintings and drawings from photographs, with the odd landscape thrown in for good measure.
Most recently, my paintings have encompassed still life and animal painting in addition to landscapes. I'm also an art tutor, teaching painting to adults, and work part-time in a national gallery, leading guided tours of the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions.