I was born and brought up in industrial Lancashire. Nevertheless, I was always interested in wildlife and the countryside. Luckily Bolton had extensive areas of hill ground to the north which provided ample scope for walks and birdwatching expeditions. At Bolton School I had an excellent biology teacher who encouraged and built on this childhood love of animals and plants. During some school vacations I worked at the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge but had plenty of time for sketching the wildfowl collection from life. The Trust's founder, the renowned painter of waterfowl Sir Peter Scott, took an interest in what I was trying to do and gave me some informal tuition which I have never forgotten. Never did I imagine that one day I would be painting wildlife for a living. Apart from this, I am self-taught.

From school I went to Exeter University to read Zoology. This was a wonderful, wide-ranging, old-fashioned course led by a clear-thinking, old-fashioned Professor. The liberal approach gave the students an ideal springboard for many diverse careers. I was fascinated by animal behaviour and by entomology, especially forest entomology with its emphasis on ecological methods of pest control. After graduating, I was awarded a two-year scholarship from the Ministry of Overseas Development to study entomology first at Glasgow University then at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. This was on the understanding that I would take up a post in a Third-World country.

Professional Experience

Thus I began my working life in Malawi setting up the country's first forest entomology unit. During the next six years I travelled 1/4 million miles much of it by landrover, collecting and studying insects associated with trees and timber throughout Malawi. During this time I gained my first commission - to illustrate the first book to be devoted to the game animals of Malawi. My pay for the 70 drawings totalled £100 - I was delighted! Because my work required travelling not just to every part of Malawi but also long trips into East Africa and through South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mocambique, I was able to see much of Southern Africa's magnificent fauna including some of the rarities. My assistants and I found quite a few insects "new to science" and even added a flying squirrel to the Malawi checklist. Wherever I could, I sketched animals in their strikingly beautiful Malawi landscapes. A steady stream of Malawians brought live specimens of a wide variety of small mammals and birds which I would keep only long enough to draw or photgraph before releasing. Even so, my garden and house could have the appearance of a transit camp for Gerald Durrell on occasion. I still hope to work up much of this material into paintings when time permits.

Painting Background and Experience

On returning to UK, I began the prolonged process of looking for a job which did not require the magical "UK experience". During this time, I started painting in watercolour, met Lomond and married her and held my first one-man exhibition. I continued painting and selling pictures for a year or so, still looking for a job in biology, until an impending baby and buckling finances forced acceptance of an unsuitable post as a token ecologist with a firm of consultants. Just over a year later when my boss threatened relocation to the London area, I resigned and we escaped to the Highlands of Scotland where I was able to devote more time to painting whilst working part-time for the Scottish Wildlife Trust as their North Region Officer. After several happy years with our young family living on the Black Isle, during which time I had several exhibitions and completed many greetings card designs for publishers in UK and USA, I decided to go full-time as a painter of wildlife and landscape. This was immediately prior to the birth of our fourth child and the country's plunge into recession. We abandoned the Black Isle with reluctance and moved south to our present large, old house in Highland Perthshire to be closer to the bigger cities and their greater potential markets. I exhibited widely but with decreasing frequency as more and more commissions came in, until by the late 80's all my work was commissioned. That remains the case. I intend from now on to reserve the occasional painting so that I can hold a long overdue exhibition in 2-3 years' time.

My work is represented in private collections (and some public ones) throughout Britain, Europe, USA, Canada and elsewhere. A number of watercolours have been published as limited edition prints in UK and USA. Apart from wildlife and sporting subjects I have painted many landscapes, dogs and other pets and domestic animals, portraits, buildings and clan and military subjects.

Interests and Other Relevant Information

My interest in animals is lifelong and undiminished. I am interested mainly in painting the mammals and birds of Northern Europe, Africa and eastern North America but I also enjoy painting dogs and landscapes of the Scottish Highlands and elsewhere. One of my aims is to produce high quality, traditional limited edition prints at affordable prices. I try in my work to evoke the beauty of Scotland's varied landscape, its wildlife and history.

My wife and I enjoy walking in the hills and intend to undertake more ambitious trips now that the children need less of our attention. Other interests are gardening; building drystone walls; books; listening to classical music (which goes well with the act of painting); bad puns; and increasingly, our new computer.