About the Curious Artist

Hi, 

Thanks for visiting my website. So you know a bit about the person who created it, here’s a short explanation about the art I produce.

I grew up on the Surrey-Hampshire border, spending time in the oak woods of Alice Holt Forest and the sandy heathlands around Frensham. Going for walks early in the morning, I caught glimpses of these different eco-systems, spotting a dartford warbler, seeing the damage roe deer caused by rubbing the velvet off their antlers destroying the bark of saplings, watching a vixen teach her cubs how to catch rabbits, and discovering the regular nocturnal foraging routes used by badgers from a nearby sett.

The simple enjoyment of seeing these things grew into more serious interest in natural systems and I found myself at university studying botany and biochemistry. I was drawn to genetics, but in 1990 moved to the Highlands of Scotland to work in regional development.

I had enjoyed drawing as a child but was introduced to watercolour painting by a countryside ranger, who inspired and encouraged me to “have a go”. With coaching and practice I started producing landscape sketches of places I visited – a sort of pictorial diary – for pleasure. This mostly remained the extent of my art until I visited New York state in autumn 2000 and saw the brilliant colours of the “fall”. To capture the intense hues I tried acrylics and have stayed with them ever since.

My subject matter has evolved as well and although I still paint landscapes sometimes, I am most satisfied by producing a visual representation of concepts or ideas. I use forms from nature to show pattern, shape and colour in an abstract sense, but I am really intrigued by the things that cause these forms, like fractals producing the repetitive structure of fern leaves, chemical bonds producing myriad shapes in ice crystals and snowflakes, and reflections from different layers of a substance producing iridescent colours.

For the most part I paint for my own satisfaction, but I hope I might sometimes make other people think differently about things they have taken for granted.