I was born and raised in a farming family in the Dengie Peninsular area of Essex, a flat landscape of marsh and small villages between The North Sea to the east, and low rolling hills to the west with mighty Elm trees, now sadly long gone, and animals, particularly horses. My first memories of riding on a horse are of being sat on top of one of the Suffolk Punches we used to breed, and hanging ont
o the long brass horns of the hames while ‘Smiler’ went about his work. And as soon as I got in control of a pencil I was drawing them, over and over, recalling their conformation and their movement. I was given my first set of oil paints in my early teens and I still have the first painting I made with them, a grey bull of no distinguishable breed as it came straight out of my head! Like most, my life has twisted and turned, I went away to train for a life with horses with some of the best teachers in the country and along the way passed my instructors exams. When my daughter was small I supported my family by taking on animal portrait commissions and as a result of my work being noticed secured a position teaching art in secondary school and, when she and my much younger son got bigger I drove lorries. But all along the way the horses were there, and so was the art, I have a lifetime of sketches in drawing pads that went everywhere with me, and even random scraps of paper, priceless notes to use further down the line. Nowadays I’m living the dream in an isolated rural area of France, breeding sport horses and creating art. I rarely take on commissions now except from my own sketches, instead I follow my emotions, I look for movement and attitude in my subjects, and I experiment…a lot. My inner critic has got me on this eternal learning curve that I hope will keep developing and changing my artwork ad infinitum, until I can no longer aim the brush at the canvas.
