A brief Artist history

Looking back I have always ‘seen’ monsters in everyday life, even when learning to form my letters age 5, they had eyes and tongues. My earliest art endeavours were always monsters, sculpting or drawing strange creatures when all my classmates made flowers or pet dogs, and that is  how it’s been throughout my life.

Leaving education and entering the ‘adult’ world sent me down the path of a corporate profession. ‘Get a good trade under your belt son’, my dad would say. I became a Structural Engineer, a good profession, comfortable living but for me it became restrictive, restrained and without soul. My creativity had to fit around and outside of this, dabbling in varied mediums; graphite, ink, airbrush. Then I discovered ceramics.

Following a part-time mentorship with a local potter, I discovered porcelain. A truly beautiful material reflecting light like no other clay. Despite its technical challenges as a material I wanted to create fantasy inspired sculpture, not perhaps the traditional way to use porcelain, but my engineering training had given me a mindset for problem solving and attention to detail and so this became my focus for many years. Trying to push the boundaries of the material while continuously striving to create more and more believable creatures.

Fast forward to a point in time where my world took a sharp turn. I felt I could no longer continue with my engineering career, I needed to slow the pace of modern life around me, remove myself from the bustle and find mental tranquility. The only way I could see was to leave my comfortable life behind and live amongst the trees. I found peace and solace here in Mid Wales deep in the Hafren Forest with my now wife Mandy. And so all was set to open the art gate fully that for so long had been simply ajar.

My art still varies in medium and content, perhaps having a darker more  dejected feel which is no doubt due to having greater life experience. Now mainly working in polymer clay or oil paints, I try to manifest into our world anything that comes through that gate. However, that is just part of the story, as I have always felt my creations were not quite complete, missing something. I now know the circle only closes when the viewer finds their own life connection in my work.

A magical moment for us both.