About me
I was born in Worsley, Lancashire and lived for a while on the Wirral, whilst teaching at a high school in Wallasey. In 1998 I moved to the Isle of Wight, in response to the prompting of God.

Teaching
I taught Art and Pottery to 11-18 yr olds for 9 years, after completing a degree in 3 Dimensional Design in 1982 and having gained my PCGE the following year. Since moving to the island I have tutored adult courses in Magazine Design (InDesign), Photoshop and Website Design (incl. Dreamweaver) over a period of 5 years.

Design
In 1996 I bought my first computer, initially learning the skills needed to create a calendar illustrated with my own pen and pencil drawings. This included creating my own calligraphy font using Fontographer. On moving to the Isle of Wight I continued to add to my graphic design skills, until in 2001 I designed my first magazine. By 2004 I had become self employed with my own design business, adding to my skills vehicle livery and book design, to name but two. I then began to learn the skills of web design which led to using Dreamweaver to create database driven sites, as well as creating customisations of WordPress sites. Although the focus of my work is now painting and pottery, I continue to do some design work as I am able.

Painting and Drawing
I’ve always had a gift for drawing, although the drawing tuition I received whilst at Manchester Polytechnic brought much needed further improvement. My skills in painting, however required a lot more work and practice, and had their greatest development during my years teaching art and the immediate years after. I have done paintings with oils, acrylics, watercolours, block poster paints, pastels and airbrush. I’ve painted with palette knife as well as brush, and though most of my paintings are landscapes, I have also painted many portraits, as well as dogs, birds and other wildlife. Another area of painting has been architectural illustration (artist’s impressions), including an oil painting of Shanklin Manor on its conversion into luxury appartments.

Pottery
My interest in wheel thrown pottery dates back to seeing students throwing pots whilst at Eccles 6th form College. After taking an Arts and Crafts A’level I decided to choose a degree course where I could develop my pottery throwing skills to a higher level. I currently have a pottery workshop at Carisbrooke Priory on the Isle of Wight. Pots are fired in a 9 cu ft propane gas kiln.

Piano
Since the age of eight I have been playing the piano, so that has come to be an important part of my life. I took my grade 8 piano when I was 18 and continued to practice regularly though to my late 30′s.

I now have a Yamaha Clavinova CLP 280 which gets played on regularly. Favourite pieces of mine include Chopin’s Scherzo no.2, Schumann’s Kriesleriana and Rachmaninoff Preludes op.23 nos 4 & 5 .