I was born in England of Irish parents in 1952, and spent my childhood and early school years in Ireland. During family holidays in Donegal and Sligo, I would often draw and paint in watercolours, encouraged by my mother Elizabeth. I finished my education in England and followed a career in science, but never lost my love for art and painting. Although an active photographer for many years, I have only recently been able to devote time to painting. From watercolours, I've switched to acrylics, which I find suits my expressive style better, but I still work in both media, often combining them with pastel and crayon.
I suppose most of us are fascinated with light and colour when we are very young. I can still remember my first set of colouring pencils - they were in a small, thin metal box, with a lid, rather like the sort of thing you might buy small cigars in. I must have been four or five at the time. They were "Lakeland" pencils, made in Cumberland, England. On the lid was a beautiful picture of a lake with mountains. To me, this picture was the embodiment of something very special, almost exotic; I grew up in Belfast, in the north of Ireland, and although only a short sea journey from Cumberland, it might as well have been an ocean away, so distant did those romantic lakes seem to my child's eye. You can still buy Lakeland pencils, made by the same company, but they sport pictures of hippos and giraffes now…
By the way, the company that made my first pencils - the Cumberland Pencil Company - has a fascinating history, which you can read about here.
I have spent time, and painted, in Ireland, England, Scotland, Italy and Australia. Each country has had an effect on my painting. Ireland inspires me with its misty mountains and ever-changing subtle light. England (where I live now) has such a variety of landscapes, from peaceful villages to rolling downs and the rugged colours of the Lake District. Scotland has immense expanses of mountainous moors, and miles of fascinating coastlines. Italy has a beautiful light, and landscapes that are steeped in thousands of years of human intervention. Australian light penetrates to your heart and illuminates the landscape with vivid colours, but in this vast continent you can also find endless temperate forests and snow-covered mountains.
Although I never followed art as a career, I did practise photography as a paying job for a while, and in 1975 joined Tony Stone Associates (now Getty Images) as a contributing photographer. I suppose some of the images from that period are still in their archives, though they don't generate much in sales now!
Since the late 1980's, however, I have only been involved in photography for my own benefit, and have tended to concentrate on landscapes. I photograph in colour and black and white. Despite my love of colour in painting, I prefer black and white, especially for shots that have plenty of texture. I've also done quite a few 'photo essays', including one of Paris in 1976, a series about the anti-nuclear demonstrations of the 1970's, and various travel-related sets. (I plan to make the Paris essay available online soon.)
I was a keen student of art at school, but my enduring love of science meant that I never had any formal art training: it was just not possible to follow both loves, and science seemed more likely to lead to a paying job. More recently,I have studied at West Dean College, Chichester, on several of that college's short courses. (West Dean is a wonderful environment to study in, and the teachers have great enthusiasm for their subjects. As well as short courses, they also offer full-time study.)