I was born in rural Berkshire, very close to the banks of the River Thames, along one of its most beautiful stretches, known as the Goring Gap. I was always aware of the outstanding beauty of my surroundings and feel it contributed greatly to the person and painter I am today.

My father, John, was a very successful artist, and some of my earliest memories are of him in his studio. This was a fascinating place for a small boy, full of all sorts of objects and props, ingluding some rather grizzly pinned bats and stuffed birds as well as a hand reared buzzard, which he looked after. He was a great experimenter, using all sorts of materials, encompassing all sorts of subject matter. Sadly he died in 2003, but he will always be my greatest influence.

I was naturally always encouraged to draw and paint, not that I needed much encouragement, as I loved it so much. Drawing was the main outlet for my imagination; anything I found interesting would result in reams of pictures. Days out were always subject hunts. I would sit beside Dad, sketching the same scene.

As a teenager I became interested in photography, with painting taking a back seat for a while, though art was important for me at school, being the only thing I was truly good at, and noticed for. After leaving school I took a job with a small engineering company. Though I was still using my hands, it was not what I wanted to do, and evenings and weekends were spent developing my painting and photography.

The Westcountry has been important to me since a family holiday when I was eleven. It was so different to Berkshire, with the moors and of course...the sea. The only coast I knew prior to this was in Sussex, where my Grandmother lived. This was just pebbles and groins, so the rugged high cliffs and sandy beaches were a revelation, and have been my prime inspiration ever since. One of my sisters moved to Devon a couple of years later, so I was able to get know the region much better, in fact I found it hard to go back home at the end of a visit. In 1996 when my wife, Liz, and I were looking to buy our first house we decided it had to be the Westcountry, she was born here and I really didn't want to live anywhere else. We now live in Mid Devon.

The move to Devon gave me the opportunity to do something I had only dreamed of, becoming a full time artist. Liz found a great job with the National Trust and was happy for me to pursue my ambition. I could not have done it without her support. I now show work through a number of galleries and have had so far, sixteen exhibitions, both solo and mixed.