My mother & father, brother & sister all have/had varying talents in artistry. But I am sure that my roots in art come straight from my Grandfather. He was an excellent artist, who even managed to paint arab silk traders, trading from the backs of camels during the war when he was posted in Eygpt. I have been told that he owned all manner of art equipment, but sadly, the war stole my grandfather then the passing of time stole his art equipment, so unfortunately I didn't get to meet either of them!

During my childhood I seemed to be constantly trying to hunt down scraps of paper to draw on, there never seemed to be enough available. Pencils, paper and erasers were a luxury only afforded to me as a birthday or Christmas present, however, one day the gods smiled upon me and someone dropped a roll of wallpaper onto my lap! It must have been like winning the lottery, there must have been a million miles of drawing that could be done on the reverse of that roll.

I remember being about 10yrs old when it actually dawned on me that I wanted to be an artist. It was the final few days in the run up to Christmas, I was at school and the lesson was to make a Christmas card for our parents. I drew Santa sitting in a yellow vintage car - my teacher was so pleased with my card, she showed it to my class mates. This was the first time in my life that I was recognised for an achievement and that I was good at something! - There was no stopping me from there on.