Born in England, I moved to the Scottish Borders in 1981 and set up a studio and picture restoration business in Hawick, once the centre of the thriving woollens industry. This part of Scotland has a landscape that, whilst not as grand in scale as its’ better known northern regions, boasts a topography which is never dull and often quite surprising. The area around us was once the seat of the Usher family who remarkably, are responsible for a landscape that has changed little in 200 years. It is not a wilderness, but is host to diverse species of plant and wild life that are a constant inspiration throughout the seasons.
I continue to travel in Europe, in particular France where it is still possible to find ‘hooks’ or ‘muses’ for my paintings amidst the 21st century industrialisation of much of the landscape. A commission to live and work in a Chateau in Provence made lasting impressions which have continued to draw me to the rustic regions remaining in the South whilst the French have abandoned many areas to move into the suburbs and Cities.