I am a self taught artist working mainly with watercolour with some mixed media. Before i began painting i worked as a self employed construction estimator which i finally ended during the lockdown 2020 to begin learning about mindfulness, compassion and nature whilst building a life as an artist as they are all interconnected for me.

Painting was a joy when i was a child but i just did not fit into the model of that era and i forgot all about painting. In 2017 , after a traumatic event i awoke with a desire to paint which i have not stopped exploring.

After studying mindfulness and compassion in 2020 i discovered that i had “Aphantasia” which i cannot visualise or attain any inner senses which made sense to my childhood experiences. At the end of 2023 i also discovered i was on the spectrum of Autism.

Initially there were aha moments , then moments of feeling limited but i discovered something within me which i was curious about alongside wonder about my condition , to a sense of knowing which informs my art making.

Before my Dad died in November 2023 my work was bright colours in acrylic , it was whimsical and similar to outsider and cobra style painting. I stopped painting after my final exhibitions in 2024 as i needed a break after Family deaths. Once again going through some troubles at the beginning of 2025 , in-between homes, i began painting to help me get through my day and as i did not have the space i chose to make daily watercolour poems which now i am working on 1000 watercolour poems.

I moved to Kielder Forest in April 2025 and i began wandering the woodlands surrounding my home and beyond which i felt something but could not describe it in words and not having the ability to visualise i began creating to seek that feeling using watercolours and organic material. In October 2025 i wanted to discover more of this feeling directly in the woodlands.

The outside painting wasn’t to paint figuratively what i saw , or to abstract the landscape as that would require visualisation but to express what i am feeling by allowing what i have chosen to paint to guide me until i need no more guidance and i have connected to something deeper.

At the age of 60 i have now transformed my life into being something i really should of been a very long time ago.