It was the end of January 2021, when we made our return to Norfolk. We sold our house in Port Isaac after almost four years of living in the sunny South West. So – Norfolk again! A diverse land of fields and marshland, dunes, creeks and cliffs. Those fields, lined with oak trees that silhouette against vast skies that change by the minute. Brick and flint cottages nestling beside copses and peaceful rivers that meander past cow meadows and reeds. Norfolk in all it’s moods has inspired me all my life. It’s a good job I’m back as I was definitely losing my Norfolk accent – the unlikely affect of having Cornish pasties for breakfast!
As always, I endeavour to keep the great traditions of landscape painting and country life alive – keeping a foot in the past but looking forward to do both of them justice is always an enjoyable challenge. My aim for every exhibition is for it to be better than the last and the desire to improve and evolve, as an artist, spurs me on every day.

I have loved revisiting old haunts, exploring different places and finding new painting grounds being chased off a field by a grumpy landowner is
a small price to pay for a good subject! The more I’ve searched, the more I’ve found. Norfolk is such a big county, there is still so much to paint and that’s a wonderful thing.

The wildlife that I see near my home in Norfolk is amazing, it is true that your surroundings influence your work. Hearing the unceasing birdsong, seeing the Roe deer, foxes and the countless hares it was inevitable that they would appear in my paintings! I have enjoyed the challenge of these different subjects in paintings like ‘The Blackbird’ ‘Sly Reynard’ and ‘March Pheasant’, it’s quite like taking a closer look at the landscape and zooming in on the wildlife that are so wonderful to see.  

Living in the countryside, seeing the trees and fields every day of my life undoubtedly has an affect on what I paint and also how I am as a person! After an artist I am definitely a countryman and I am just as passionate about conversation, farming, country sports and traditions as I am about painting.
I am also learning to ride taking two lessons a week. Being in the saddle on a shire cross cob, 17 hands tall is definitely the way to see the world! Looking over hedgerows and looking at the World between her two ears is very special. No doubt these experiences will transfer into my artwork in the future and I have joked about doing a self portrait atop a good looking horse, perhaps it’s not such a bad idea! And exhibition of paintings done from the saddle would be quite something!