When I was about 6 I did a painting of a camel at my infants school. Not sure why but the head mistress was summoned to have a look at it. At about 11 (years not O'clock) I made a copy of a character out of the Aristocrats. When I had finished it I could not quite understand how it had come to look the same as the original. Sometimes this still happens it.

After entering the family packaging business I started doing artwork for carrier bags and boxes. During this time I also joined the Malvern Theatre Players and helped build stage sets. It was during this period that I made some passable copies of paintings for the stage. A Rembrandt self portrait gave me particular satisfaction.

Working for Joytoys (wooden toys) I learned a great deal about production in a small firm and was involved in many of the designs of the toys. After I left I carried on doing artwork for the company. 

After working freelance as a designer for several years I ended up working for Bransford Garden Plants (now Bransford-Webbs). It was only supposed to be a temporary job in the summer but I stayed for 3 years. Here I was lucky enough to work with some of the great 'old boys' of the hop farming industry. They taught me a great deal and I have very fond memories of the funwe used to have.

Eventually it got leaked that I designed stuff and I ended up designing some exhibition stands for the company. This made me want to design stuff again so I left to start Creative Spaces. Originally I produced leaflets and corporate ID before taking on the role of web designer.

Starting to draw and paint pet portraits for Christmas, gave me an opportunity to get aquanted with paper and pencil again.  I am now returning to the outside as I have been hidden in an office for too long.  Enrolling at Pershore Horticultural College on a Level 3 Cerificate in Horticulture has made the connection back to the land. I now have regular garden jobs as well as servicing my existing graphic and web clients. Garden design has helped me to get out into the landscape and to quench my thirst for spatial design.

I enjoy all sorts of country pursuits and the big skies of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. There is nothing like the misty mornings in the Severn Valley when Bredon HIll pokes its head above the morning mist to look like a scene from middle earth. 

The old imperial measurements have become a recent fascination as they produce a different proportion to metric. There is something very satisfying about fractions too. The designs I do for gardens are done in feet and inches and I draw them on paper. I feel a better connection to the landscape using the imperial measurement. Its also interesting that working on paper gives me a better spacial awareness than working on a screen.

I continue to amuse myself in the shed, I love rope and knots, cooking and yoga. During the pheasant season I love beating, wandering around woods in Herefordshire shouting and thrashing bushes with a stick is great fun. 

The cycles of nature are an important part of my life.