Biography
The seed was sown for my Love of art and painting in 1968 when I was 11 years old. At that time I was sent to attend a boarding school in Holbrook, Suffolk in the UK.
This was a bit of a shock to the system as only weeks before I had been running free and barefoot through the dusty streets of Mediterranean Malta where dad was stationed - I was a Navy brat.
My new custodial home in all its glory was fortunate enough to house many paintings from the "National Maritime Collection" - up until that point I don't remember ever having seen an oil painting.
I recall so clearly entering the dining hall and seeing "The battle of the Nile" by George Arnold for the fist time - I was awestruck and have been ever since.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile#/media/File:The_Battle_of_the_Nile.jpg )
When I was living in London I did attend art school In Brixton, but I was taught to basically throw paint at the canvas and "express myself".
This was all well and good (for later), but I wanted more and felt something was missing.
For the following two years I spent many hours each week in London's National Gallery studying the masters and doing my best to duplicate them as a technical exercise.
In doing so along with reading books on each artists methods and techniques taught me everything I needed to know... along with hours of practice of course.
Later I studied graphic art here in Australia and worked in the film industry as a graphic artist.
January 1995 was a turning point for me when I opened an art school based on how I would like to have been taught in a more classical way. This proved popular and grew from myself teaching 10 students to a base of 300 students and five specialist teachers following my philosophy and teaching methods.
Fourteen years later I sold the school and am now able to pursue my own painting journey while exploring my inner creativity in a different way.