I studied at Northampton Grammar School, then at Sheffield University and later at Bolton Institute of Technology. I would tell you about the paternoster in the Sheffield University Arts Tower, but it would probably be too much of a digression. I then worked at Stokes' Paint Factory (where I mixed paint) and subsequently in what was called at the time a lunatic asylum (where I looked after the lunatics), a venerable institution situated in Northampton founded in 1838 with its own nine-hole golf course and church designed by the celebrated architect Gilbert Scott, where I assisted, among other things, with their programme of electro-shock therapy. I was subsequently employed in all sorts of businesses and institutions too numerous to mention here. This dabbling in just about everything had the effect of giving me a reasonable grounding in what it means to be a human being, and, to a lesser extent, a grounding in the aesthetics of everyday life. Whatever that is.
During this period, I represented four living artists for some time in the Northampton area. That was hard, but my long association with these four artists taught me much about art and art appreciation.
I subsequently bought and sold eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth-century art. That was easier, but still not easy to make enough money to live on.
During this whole time, I continued to draw, paint, and photograph what was around me.
I hope my feelings come through in what I do, and that my art expresses something of the wonder and strangeness of life.
I have lived in Estaing, Aveyron since 2008, and married a French woman (my second marriage) in 2017. We have two cats.