I was born in Tottenham, London in 1946 and moved to Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire at the age of four where I have remained to the present day.

I suppose my art first kicked off as a young teen when I used to enjoy cartoon drawing and semi-lifelike characters from comics, this changed when I was about twenty and started painting in oils under the guidance of 'Gilbert Wiper' from 'The Irish school of Landscape painting' and was now to work in this medium for over two decades.

Also at that time, wishing to make a career of art I applied to ' The St Albans School of Art' but was not accepted as my academic qualifications were found lacking ( I did not realize you needed to be an 'Einstein' to enjoy painting ) so instead enrolled for evening classes where I gained an 'O' then an 'A' level in art

The future now looked clearer, painting in oils with reasonable success and hoping to sell the majority of my work.

By now, and twenty five years on, my enthusiasm had rubbed off on my father, and how surprised I was to see him sat at the kitchen table painting in watercolours!!

This was to be the turning point in my art, for my father was always proud to show me what he had painted on this day or that, and one day I was stunned !! looking at the sky on one of his landscapes which was painted wet into wet I realized I could never hope to match this using oils.

Now was to come a long and sometimes frustrating slog painting in watercolours, the only real advice I could give is practice, practice and more practice, also read some good technique books.

In 1992 I was made redundant from work which was to last for three years and gave me the opportunity to really go for it, so a year later 'Close to the edge' was entered into a national competition to find the best painting from a photograph, judged by ten professional artists this took second prize, it was entered again in a Rotary club competition open to all Hertfordshire artists to find the best painting depicting a nature scene securing third place.

I was again made redundant from work in 2005 and have now taken early retirement at the age of fifty nine to pursue my hobby full time, have joined ' The Hertford Art Society' and took 2nd place again with 'Jenny' at a recent exhibition held in Hertford.

My other hobbies are photo restoration, creative digital enhancements, and country walking from which most of my material and inspirations stem.