I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember. I was lucky enough to be celebrated by my teachers at primary and secondary school for my artistic abilities. I had an immensely supportive Art teacher at Oldham Sixth form called Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk. He believed in me before anyone else did and so was extremely disappointed in me when I chose to study music post A-levels instead of Art. He was right.
Who knows?! I might not have been here today if I hadn’t gone off to study Popular Music at Leeds College of Music, and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to tour the world as a Rock’n’Roll drummer – which I did. One thing’s for certain, in the wrong hands, higher education can kill your passion. But still, I am where I am, and I am thoroughly engrossed in exploring this traditional medium of Oil and everything that surrounds it.
‘Resources For Painters’ is an archive of material I’ve been putting together since I started my journey as a freelance portrait painter in 2021. There is a wealth of material out there where you can find this information from much more experienced artists and craftspeople than I. Yet there is no monopoly on passion or talent and I intend to capture all of my discoveries with this wonderful material here. I will not be ignoring the lessons of this practice of the last 2000 years, I’ll just be finding my own way through – the best way to learn!