Born and educated in London where I trained as a professional photographer, I specialised in portraiture, fashion and commercial photography for over a decade. I was always fascinated by the tactile nature of darkroom processes and the alchemy of the pre-digital photographic process, however, I ended up reluctantly moving away from photography feeling, in retrospect, that perhaps I had left a job unfinished.
After preparing for and passing the Knowledge test, I worked as a black cab driver in London for several years before relocating to New Zealand. There, I undertook further study and found myself working as a university lecturer. It was becoming very clear though, that while I had a lot of passions and interests, I was having trouble deciding what I wanted to 'be'. I loved teaching but over the years found myself constantly being drawn to creative activities in my spare time - a sure sign that yet another career change was about to take place. I eventually took to painting and soon realised there was a way to merge my love of photography with that of paint as a medium.
Years of experimenting with materials, whenever I had the opportunity, enabled me to further develop my interest in the arts and visual media, and I gained immense personal satisfaction and fulfilment from painting as well as small-scale furniture making, finding I was able to express myself with colour and shape in both disciplines.
My current works are all hand painted originals on large canvases using a variety of techniques and materials including acrylics, inks, gold leaf and resin. It was inevitable that my love of music would end up being the source of inspiration for some of my work and it has been great meeting clients over the years who have shared that interest. I particularly enjoy the process of collaboration on commissions to create very personal expressions of a client's lives and interests.
I am generally able to accommodate changes in colour and scale of my pieces to fit in with the requirements of your home and the environment in which the painting will be displayed. This will involve some discussion or email correspondence to ensure that the painting will meet your needs.
I am also excited to undertake original commissions from clients seeking a work inspired by their lives through their own photographs or other media, as one-off pieces. I have always found this to be an enjoyable and stress-free process for everyone involved (I hope!). There will of course be some email exchanges to finalise details of the image, colours, sizes etc and I mock up visuals of how the finished painting will appear so everyone is on the same page. Except possibly in the case of additional materials, there will be no extra cost for the commission process.
A lot of my completed paintings have come about through discussions with clients about people they admire or who have affected their life in some way. It is always interesting to hear these kinds of personal stories and I am more than happy to discuss any potential ideas, from a portrait of your favourite superstar to a realisation of an original concept.
Thank you for your interest and feel free to get in touch if you are curious about anything.