About my art and what it means to me
I feel what I paint and I paint what I see.Living in the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors, with rocky coastline to complement the rugged splendour of the Moorland, subject matter is of the very best.
I love nothing more than relaxing with a set of pastels and capturing forever an idea on paper. Anything inspires me; I often feel like a young child in a sweet shop, every thing I see around me is filled with colour and shape.
I like to paint expressively and see things from a slightly unusual angle. I have recently been pushing the limits of Oil Pastel, as a medium, for creating drama and emotion in my paintings
I tend to paint what appeals to me, in a way that I see the subject.
I paint because I love to paint; my greatest enjoyment is seeing others enjoy my work. If someone can see, even just for a moment, what I have seen my art has come through. I have had several commissioned portraits, animal portraits and landscapes. I am a member of ‘The Oil Pastel Society’, ‘Whitby Art Society’ and a member of 'The Eskvale Painting Group'
By background is mainly military serving as a Royal Marines Commando for several years. During that Time I managed to develop an ability to look at and, most importantly, to see detail and both frontally and laterally. The importance in identifying and relating peripheral detail proved a very useful tool in reconnaissance and now in viewing a subject for interpretation on a canvas or paper.
Though I enjoy working in pastels, I also work in acrylic, watercolour and mixed media. I am mostly self taught, though in saying that, I love to attend art classes and art groups to share and learn new techniques and approaches.
When using any media I try and stretch the boundaries of that media as well as conventional of traditional approach or technique i try and mix or extend the potential of the medium.