• My 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…

  • Creative AI

    The Democratising Effect of AI Vs the Gatekeepers of Creativity

    Of course we understand that new and disruptive technologies have a divisive effect and undermine the established norms and structures that support them, that is why, by definition, they are disruptive. The advent of photography had the same impact on painting as the advent (and rapid evolution) of AI tools is currently having on a wide range of creative practice.…

  • Creative AI,  My Work

    New Work, Creative Process and AI

    It’s no secret that I’m an advocate of AI for creative work. In a recent post on Instagram for The Night Studio, I compared the fear of the rise of AI for creatives to the fear of photography when it first arrived. The tools are in some ways crude at the moment and I understand the contentions that creators have…

  • My 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…

  • My 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.…

  • My Work

    Painting: Portrait of Finn

    Around April time I started in earnest trying to cut down the time it takes to do an alla-prima portrait. My target was to get it into a three hour window. This one of those ‘training’ paintings. I started with blue acrylic underpainting and then used oil colour on top of that. You can see progress thumbnails below. Finn is…

  • Creative Process

    SCAMPER Your Way to Creative Excellence

    Creative practice is pure problem solving. The process of taking an observation, thought or emotion and making it communicable to an audience is a problem to be solved. As visual artists we often lean into the intuitive to the detriment of process. This is a shame because there are so many great tools and techniques from other disciplines that can…