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About Myself

I'm always slightly wary of describing myself as an 'artist' it's such a loaded word, its more comfortable to say that I'm first and formost a wildlife illustrator.I specialise in pencil studies of my own and hopefully the publics favourite birds and animals.

Wherever possible I try to capture truely wild moments and I have observed most of my subjects at one time or another in the field. I spend most winters travelling the tropics visiting reserves and national parks tracking down wildlife, it's tough work but someone has to do it.

Wild creatures of course tend not to pose readily which can be very frustrating so it's inevitable then that I visit good zoos, breeding programmes, re-hab centres and orphanages to aquire much of my material.

Everything takes time and patience. I allow about a week on average to complete one drawing. They can take far longer anything up to 3 weeks. If I added up the hours spent travelling, composing and drawing it would be daunting.

So why black and white? Simplicity, all I need is a pencil and paper. I used to paint but taking all that kit abroad was a nightmare. Gradually over the years I painted less and less and drew more and more untill my drawings became the finished pieces in thier own right. Oh and I am actually quite colour blind!

I was born in 1961, raised in Sussex and presently live in Brighton on the coast. I have had no formal training and am entirely self taught.