Born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1949 I began drawing at the age of 4 developing an interest in watercolour and oil painting a few years later. I won several of the painting competitions organised by Cavendish Morton for Anglia Television and began exhibiting my work in the early 1960s.
As a child my enthusiasm for exploring the Suffolk countryside around my home town, mostly on my bike with paints and easel strapped on the back, grew into a passion, one that remains with me. During those teenage years I developed my oil and gouache painting techniques in front of vibrant Suffolk landscapes throughout the seasons, wonderful days of glorious isolation usually returning home with a completed painting. Nature was my teacher, my friend, my inspiration. Alongside this growing creative activity grew an awareness that this beautiful Earth and the images I was painting were already threatened by the behaviour of humankind.
I attended Chelsea College in London in 1968. After an intense year of creative activity I left the college realising it was not the right place for me. I married my beautiful Finnish wife Kaisa in 1969 and went to live in Finland giving me the opportunity to work with a very different landscape and viewing public. We returned to live in London and I completed my studies at the University of London Institute of Education, culminating in the award of a Masters Degree in 1979.
I taught Art in a variety of institutions until 1987 when I "retired" from teaching to establish my first Studio in Kessingland, Suffolk. In 1991, wishing to live again with my family, we decided to emigrate to New Zealand and lived in Auckland until 1993. Here I established my studio, painting over 100 gouache and oil paintings of the North Island landscape and coastline, exhibiting this work in local galleries.
We returned to Suffolk in 1993 where I established another Studio in Kessingland and returned to my painting, exhibition and conservation programme.
Kaisa had developed cancer in 1983 and this returned in 1996 having a profound effect on both of us. With a strong interest in meditation and complementary medicine we decided to move to Somerset where we found much more sympathy to this approach to health. Once again I had the opportunity to paint a very different landscape and exhibit my work in Galleries in Glastonbury, Bath and Bristol.
After a long and courageousI struggle with her illness Kaisa died in 2001. The loss of my beloved wife, after 32 years of marriage, had a profound impact on me changing, in significant ways, my life's direction. I decided to remain in Somereset with my daughter Jennifer until 2023. During that time my interest in writing developed alongside a growing interest in the practise and teaching of meditation, leading groups and publishing three books and several articles on the practice of Self Enquiry.
In 2024 I returned to Kessingland with Jenny and our rescue dogs. I have now established my Studio and am ready to resume my painting activity in our beloved Suffolk, my home.
In 2025 I have been invited to be a speaker for Greenpeace U.K., East Sufolk region, which I am honoured to accept.
