Biography
Art has been a passion since my teenage years growing up in Suffolk, UK. Encouraged by my artistic mother I had won a number of art prizes before leaving school. I trained as an architect at Liverpool University and then pursued a successful career in the UK before emigrating to New Zealand in 1999 to head up Opus Architecture. My time with Opus saw the practice double in size to become one of New Zealand's leading studios, securing the inaugural NZ Architecture Medal and numerous other design awards.
In 2010 I left the corporate world and set up in a studio at my Ararimu house. Many of the skills learned during the years of architectural practice are now coming to fruition on the canvas ... in particular the heightened awareness of three-dimensional space and movement through the physical environment. My paintings are unashamedly both representational and evocative. I am conscious of pattern and structure in my subjects and of those spaces beyond that intrigue the onlooker. I see my task as one of simplification and rationalisation, using colour and tonal quality to reinterpret and invite the viewer in. Painting is an exciting journey as interpretation and representation changes in response to the layering of colour and abutting of impasto oils until that point is reached which just feels so right.
Some five years on from the decision to leave architecture my work is selling and is represented in private collections in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.