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My urge to draw began in my childhood and continued throughout my school years. I then completed a year of study at an art school in Wellington, New Zealand, before starting work in the commercial art field. However, I soon discovered it was not the type of art I wanted to do as a career and so I went to training college to become a teacher.
After six years of teaching, I realised that my part-time painting had become my first love, so with my wife’s encouragement, I went full-time. That was way back in 1972. Since then, I've concentrated on improving my work with day to day sales, along with one-man and group exhibitions and teaching assignments with art groups in New Zealand, Australia, and the USA.
After trying watercolours, acrylics, and oils, I decided that oils are the best choice for me. I love the creamy texture and the flow of the brushes on the stretched canvas surface, the range of beautiful colours, and the fact that I can control their drying time – from an hour or two, to several days – whatever I prefer. Also, unlike other mediums, extremes of hot and cold don't make too much difference to the working qualities of oils. See the results of my efforts on the gallery and archive pages.
In 2007, my wife and I shifted to Glenorchy where I now paint and teach in the stunning mountains and valleys around us. I enjoy taking groups of people out to my favourite spots where I teach them how to paint ‘plein air,’ (in the great outdoors), a different experience for those who have been studio – only painters in the past. If you're interested, have a look at my "workshops" page to see how I arrange them. I like to include some teaching in my "blog" page too - have a look!
More recently, a friend introduced me to the idea of creating teaching DVD's - filming myself as I paint and talk about what I'm doing on the canvas and the reasons why. Very challenging I’ve discovered! Editing the information from three cameras is not easy but I hope my efforts are improving and that if you download or buy my discs through this website ( details on the DVD's page ), you will enjoy and learn from them.
My urge to draw began in my childhood and continued throughout my school years. I then completed a year of study at an art school in Wellington, New Zealand, before starting work in the commercial art field. However, I soon discovered it was not the type of art I wanted to do as a career and so I went to training college to become a teacher.
After six years of teaching, I realised that my part-time painting had become my first love, so with my wife’s encouragement, I went full-time. That was way back in 1972. Since then, I've concentrated on improving my work with day to day sales, along with one-man and group exhibitions and teaching assignments with art groups in New Zealand, Australia, and the USA.
After trying watercolours, acrylics, and oils, I decided that oils are the best choice for me. I love the creamy texture and the flow of the brushes on the stretched canvas surface, the range of beautiful colours, and the fact that I can control their drying time – from an hour or two, to several days – whatever I prefer. Also, unlike other mediums, extremes of hot and cold don't make too much difference to the working qualities of oils. See the results of my efforts on the gallery and archive pages.
In 2007, my wife and I shifted to Glenorchy where I now paint and teach in the stunning mountains and valleys around us. I enjoy taking groups of people out to my favourite spots where I teach them how to paint ‘plein air,’ (in the great outdoors), a different experience for those who have been studio – only painters in the past. If you're interested, have a look at my "workshops" page to see how I arrange them. I like to include some teaching in my "blog" page too - have a look!
More recently, a friend introduced me to the idea of creating teaching DVD's - filming myself as I paint and talk about what I'm doing on the canvas and the reasons why. Very challenging I’ve discovered! Editing the information from three cameras is not easy but I hope my efforts are improving and that if you download or buy my discs through this website ( details on the DVD's page ), you will enjoy and learn from them.