• Creativity,  Themes and Inspiration,  Visual Work

    Digital Painting: Not Quite Blood, Alchemy and Ritual

    Years ago, I used to do digital painting. It was a satisfying way to work, but eventually I eschewed it in favour of returning to my traditional painting practice. The motivation behind this was a general dissatisfaction with not having a tangible end product. Eventually, the conventional painting style took over completely, and I packed away my little Wacom tablet,…

  • Visual Work

    Painting: Hiraeth

    Hiraeth: n. (Welsh) A spiritual longing for a home which maybe never was. Nostalgia for ancient places to which we cannot return. It is the echo of the lost places of our soul’s past and our grief for them. It is in the wind, and the rocks, and the waves. It is nowhere and everywhere. So it’s been a while…

  • Visual Work

    Painting: That Time, SPA 2024 Finalist

    Featuring in the Scottish Portrait Awards 2024. A painting started some time ago but finally finished only in February of 2024. When I started this I had no beard, now I have a beard. My three year old son refers to this picture as ‘Mr No Beard’. It has been hanging on the stair where we say goodnight to Mr…

  • Visual Work

    Painting: If Not Here Then Where

    This portrait of my partner repainted substantially in June 2024, entitled ‘If Not Here Then Where’, is a deeply personal one that aims to capture a time when we were not sure if our location was the right one (we’re still not sure). We’ve spent years looking for other places to be the ‘right’ place to live, but have decided…

  • Creativity,  Self Development,  Themes and Inspiration

    Creative Ideas As Currency: Growth for Artists In The Digital Economy

    If content is currency, then artists, you are already wealthy. You have enough unique, interesting and useful creative ideas to turn into a wide range of quality output. In the newest incarnation of our evolving economy, content creation is the most valuable currency. Artists are the original content creators, and you are sitting on a potential gold mine. Today, we’ll…

  • Visual Work

    Sky Portrait Artist of the Year Experience

    Well it’s been a busy time round here and lot’s to reflect on in the past few months. Not much new painting at the moment as I’ve been busy on other projects but can’t wait to get back to it now especially after watching Sky Portrait Artist of the Year again. It’s fired me up and reminded me that it’s…

  • Visual Work

    Painting: Ghost Control

    It’s difficult to explain fully what this piece of work means to me. It brings together for the first time a series of threads that have been with me for many years and in a language that feels more ‘me’. There is a pre-cursor to this painting and an interesting little bit of synchronicity attached to creation of this work.…