Born in Edinburgh, under the shadow of Arthurs Seat.
Many hats worn, early career in engineering and picture framing before a longer working stint in IT.
Early life in art, at school, was mainly cartoons and still life with the odd batik which I seemed to have a fascination for. I guess this is a strange mix of practice but it suited a young fellow with a big quiff and pink brothel creepers!
A missed opportunity to attend ECA after leaving school meant that creativity dwindled until, whilst working as a picture framer, I started drawing and painting again. But this was quickly put on hold further when I was given my first SLR camera for my 21st birthday. I loved my old Nikon FM, and within a few years it was accompanied by a Rollieflex 2.8f Planer, a Rollieflex Automat, and a Leica R3. I spent the rest of two decades taking photographs and playing in bands.
Ironically (or not), taking up photography was a means to record scenes I wanted to draw and paint around Edinburgh but was too shy to sit and draw in public. The fascination for B&W processing in my dark bedroom in Tollcross became everything I wanted to do and continued until the introduction of digital photography.
In 2010 I began painting again. In 2013, redundancy forced a choice and the choice was easy – I wanted to study painting at Edinburgh.
I enrolled at ECA in 2015 and left with a BA Hons in Painting in 2019. I’m now currently studying MFA in Illustration at ECA.
