I was born in the North East, lived there until I was 9, moved to the South West, studied graphics at Newport School of Art and Design. Drawing was something that came entirely naturally to me in my early years, and even long before jumping into drawing for a living I spent much of my time in other jobs doodling surreptitiously. I’m dad to three beautiful kids and husband to the equally beautiful Verity. We love doing community stuff – Verity has cofounded a home education project with 20 other families where we live and before we moved here we hosted house concerts in our front room. I've recently completed a Permaculture Design Course which is invigorating my sense of connection to the earth and shaping how I navigate my being here. I am in love with the world. I love getting distracted by beautiful things, largely in nature. Holidays when I was young in the Lake District left a deep imprint in me – mountain streams and crags and being in the hills or by the sea still makes me feel alive in a way that few other things do.
Over the past few years I’ve been involved in two inspirational communities, in Hertfordshire and now Stroud, and my work has been supported and oxygenated by them, and a wider circle of family, friends and supporters in these islands and beyond. Stroud is home now, in the town but within sight of the extraordinary common lands and springs that rise between five valleys. It’s a good spot to be, creative, beautiful in its own way – accessible but also with a sense of the wild wind blowing through it, with wet, green corners and spaces where the sky feels wide and close. The landscape here has held us, through our arrival here, and we're looking forward to how life unfolds here.
