From an early age like lots of other artists I was inspired by the painters of the French Impressionists and Post Impressionists group of artists like Monet, Cezanne van Gogh etc. But while studying Art and Design at the Lincoln College of Art, I became more involved with German Expressionist art, largely due to the influence of the painting tutor Tony Bartl who studied in Vienna with Kokoschka. I also enjoyed discovering the work of 20th century British artists such as Paul Nash, Keith Vaughan and Ivon Hitchens

My paintings usually start from direct observation sketches, photographs or purely imaginative concepts which I develop through small painted colour sketches. I do this to distance myself from the reality of the original images, not only to enhance and radically change the colour schemes, but also to make changes to the composition.

I like to describe this as moving into 'free form' while the process of painting using a relatively large brush stroke technique, can add an extra expressive dimension to the work and can sometimes change the character of the work completely. It is a process of constant change which can sometimes take a long time to mature and sometimes to abstraction.

SOME EXHIBITIONS
Lincolnshire Artists at Usher Gallery, Lincoln. Since 1964
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
Yorkshire Artists at Leeds City Art Gallery
Yorkshire Playhouse Gallery, Leeds
Borders Bookshop Gallery, Leeds
Yorkshire Art Circus, Castleford
Rochdale Art Gallery
Jelli Leg Art Centre, Reading
Beverley Art Gallery
Holmfirth Art show
P.J.K Art gallery, Skipton
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