After a previous life as an investment manager, and since completing the Heatherley’s figurative painting diploma in 2001, I have done both portrait commissions and other work, and have exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and other group exhibitions both in London and Somerset. Both my figure paintings and other work are done from preparatory drawings and direct from life, and in that sense all the pieces are ‘portraits’ whether the subject is a person, object or landscape. Particularly in my still lives I find the objects being portrayed become less important in themselves, but provide the props to explore and describe the spatial and colour relationships of the image. Whatever the subject matter, all the pieces tend to be about rigorous drawing and the expressive use of colour to describe the form.

I like to work from life whenever possible, and generally take around 20 hours to complete a portrait. I find photographs distinctly second best, particularly for capturing the intensity and variability of colour that I find important in describing a person’s face. My portraits are about gauging ‘where things are rather than what things are’ and nothing beats the physical presence of the subject for that observation to take place.

I like to paint people in their own surroundings and can travel to do a commission. It normally takes up to ten sessions to paint a portrait, so the process will normally take several months. The picture is delivered unframed but I can offer advice and recommend a framer if needed. Pricing is as follows:-