I was always encouraged to be creative. My parents would bring home an endless supply of scrap paper from the family business, and I would transform these boring documents into exciting drawings of cars and superheroes.
My family worked in insurance, but my brother and I were steered away from that path. My father often said he wished he had been a cartographer, and I didn't want to share the same regrets of not following my interests.
I grew up with one sibling, a younger brother who was incredibly active and drawn to every sport imaginable. He could never sit still, while I dedicated my time to more creative pursuits.
Creativity was always really important to me, much of it inspired by films and television. I remember becoming obsessed with Titanic from a young age. It was the only thing I drew for months and I developed a real passion for capturing things that told a story or carried emotion. A feature that is still true to this day.
There was a lot of pressure at school to figure out what you wanted to be. When I thought about a career, I imagined being a pilot. My uncle flew in the RAF, and that was a pretty inspiring thought growing up. For my 14th birthday, I was lucky enough to have my first flying lesson at Redhill Aerodrome in a small Katana DA20.
Even while chasing my aviation dreams, I couldn’t resist covering every school book with drawings. It earned me a few detentions, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me. I stuck with art through GCSEs and A levels because it was always my favourite subject, even if I didn’t care much about the grades. I wasn’t aiming for an A; I just wanted to make the art I loved.
When I hit A levels, I had a stint in hospital that caused some issues with the flight medical exam. Thankfully that’s all in the past now, but it definitely made me doubt my path, especially as I became more and more obsessed with art. In the end, that doubt pushed me to dive deeper into my painting, and I have never looked back
In my early teens, I started experimenting with a DSLR, capturing a range of subjects and developing an eye for composition, something that definitely features in the work I do today. Car and motorsport photography was one of the most exciting things to shoot, the speed, the energy and the motion. Growing up, my dad used to take me to photograph the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, and that passion continued as I went to events like Carfest and Brands Hatch. I used to stand on a bin just to get the best angle of the race action.
When I hit my twenties, I started working as a school and nursery photographer to support my art. At that time, most of my work was pencil based, but there was still so much discovery and experimentation to do. Photography taught me a lot about composition, lighting and capturing a subject, skills that overflowed into my artwork.
My very first sale was a pencil drawing of a Spitfire, posted on Facebook Marketplace. I still remember exactly where I delivered it. It may sound silly now, but I couldn’t believe I could actually make money from my art.
From there, most of my early paintings focused on wildlife. Pet portraits and animal commissions made up a large part of my early art income. I spent a lot of time experimenting with different styles and ideas within that subject. During this period, I released two collections: the Holding Hands collection and the Natures Eyes collection. Both explored the relationship between nature and human behaviour.
After a few years, I started to look beyond wildlife. While I enjoyed it, the subject no longer gave me the satisfaction or connection I was after. This pushed me to explore other passions, like aviation, sailing and, of course, motoring.
Formula 1 was never a lifelong obsession for me. I spent much of my early years without access to or exposure to the sport. It was only in my late teens that Formula 1 started to creep into my day-to-day life. I’d catch the odd race highlight or rerun on YouTube, but slowly this grew into a much bigger passion that found its way into my creative work.
The sport definitely shaped my work, I took a lot of inspiration from the action in the pits, capturing the expressions and emotions of the people involved. Capturing the unique or special moments, the unsung heroes of the teams, and the drivers in different situations.
My first pit stop painting was of Lewis Hamilton during the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix. Even after years of painting, the passion I felt creating Formula 1 art was unlike anything I’d experienced before. No subject had ever interested me as much.
One of my favourite pieces was a painting of Jackie Stewart from 1965. That piece was particularly special because I was also able to have it signed by Sir Jackie himself, it was an incredible feeling, and it was later donated to Race Against Dementia. It felt incredible to make a positive impact through my work.
To this day, Formula 1 and the automotive world play a huge part in my life and have led to some incredible experiences and opportunities. The sport has inevitably defined the work I create.
Nowadays, you’ll find my work exhibited at events across the UK, and I now collaborate with many people on automotive and Formula 1 paintings. If you would like to work together on an idea, event, or commission, please do not hesitate to get in touch.