About me

I was pretty crap at school, the only things I loved were art and music. My dad gave me a guitar at 6 years old and have played ever since in bands and as a singer-songwriter. My mum used to paint, I found her old paintings in my grandma’s loft and thought it was really cool. She was also a dancer in the clubs in the 60’s which is even cooler. My mum and dad were rockers in the 60’s but they drove around on a massive Lambretta with mirrors on so I guess that’s where I get my rebellious side from. My grandad on my dads side painted landscapes and my Uncle on my mums side was a well known artist in Yorkshire, he taught me how to paint in oils as a kid.

I only passed Art, English, and randomly Classical Studies at school, like I said, I hated it. I still think school is an outdated construct, churning out workers, instead of allowing creative talent to flourish. But that’s a story over a beer.

I went to college to do photography and graphic design, in the days before computers (yep I’m that old) so I studied composition, the art of color, screen printing, painting, life drawing, typography (i’m a typo nerd) and mixed media, went on to do my HND in colour photography (yep, still old).

I spent a while as a freelance designer and car salesman for my dad until I rebelled and drove to London with a band, we had nowhere to live, so bunked with mates until we could get a house, needing money I got a job as a graphic designer for an automotive company, then the internet arrived…

Cut a very long story short, I ended up getting into the web design and advertising scene at a young age, being featured as one of the UK’s first web designers, I worked for Sony Music Europe, looking after bands like Oasis and Travis and Muse. Then set up on my own and built a couple of agencies, working as Art Director and Creative Director. I was Victoria Beckham’s designer for a while… but again, that’s for another day.

I moved back up North and started a design agency in 2004, we grew to over 50 people over 17 years. All that stress and demands took its toll in the end and I ended up having a breakdown. I couldn’t work and didn’t want to. I sold the business and spent several years living on my savings. I spent all my time trying to understand the mind and why mine had fucked up, turns out we need a healthy balance of love, joy and living in the moment. Painting and photography gives me this in abundance. It saved me.

I am passionate about the power of now, about the logic that we only have this very moment. The past doesn’t exist anymore, only as memories, and the future is a manifestation of what we believe will happen, not actual truth. So try to document this in my work. Capturing the now through my photography, and capturing te feelings, the colours, the emotions through my art.

It’s capturing a finite slice of life. And every slice is precious.