For most people, painting is an emotional experience - and I am no exception. Indeed, I have to have an emotional attachment to some aspect of my subject matter in order to create a successful and satisfactory result.
For this reason many of my canvasses feature places with special significance to my family and myself. The West of Scotland for example; North Yorkshire (where I now live) and Cumbria (not just the Lake District).
The special significance can be simply a feeling that I had at that moment in time - as a consequence, some paintings have a slightly surreal quality. Some are tranquil, others very slightly edgy. This may not always be obvious at first glance - and that is fine. I do believe, however, that (ideally) the longer one lives with a work, the more its mood or 'vibe' is conveyed.
I find there is a spiritual quality to many of the locations I paint. If you do not believe me, go and visit the Isle of Arran or a Hebridean island such as Barra. North Yorkshire coastal villages such as Staithes (home of the Northern Impressionists) or Cumbrian locations as diverse as Eskdale, Maryport and Loweswater evoke equally powerful feelings. In all these places, there is an echo of people who have gone before - whether crofters or shipbuilders. In most cases, people whose lives were lived under hard conditions in a harsh but spectacularly beautiful environment.
It doesn't take a genius to work out that I have an obsession with stones. Many of my landscape paintings also feature water - I love water, the sea, rivers, lakes... even rain. Light is a fascination for me as it is for most artists. All the places I paint have a very interesting and a very different kind of light. The West of Scotland has a magical, sharp kind of light. Parts of the Lake District (for obvious reasons) have amazing shadows and on a sunny winters day or early on a summers morning, the most spectacular sparkling light - the like of which I have never seen anywhere else in Britain.
Yorkshire light is softer and calmer but no less beautiful. More recently, I have discovered the outstanding beauty of the North Norfolk coast. I am sure that other places will inspire me in the years to come - I certainly hope so.
The majority of my work is in acrylic on canvas.... though I do not always use the paint in a conventional way. I also work in watercolour and oil - but generally seem to gravitate back to acrylics in the end!
I attended Newcastle upon Tyne School or Art and Design in the days when the emphasis was on drawing - especially life drawing - but I never completed the course. Most of my interest in art comes from my father, whose ability in every medium available continues to inspire me.