Born 1973          

I would like to share a little of how I got to this point of being a professional artist.  My passion for art developed from the age of about 12.  I desperately wanted to be able to draw and make it my career.      Although advised against it , I pursued my ambition and I graduated from the   University of Ulster in 1995 with BA(Hons) in Fine Art, and began my mission of making paintings for a living! Perhaps being 21 and naive helped.  I was unaware how difficult it was going to be.  Working from my studio on my family farm in Co.Down,  Northern Ireland I have steadily built up a client base for animal and human portraiture.  The work in my portfolio is the result of 11 years of tears, frustration, torn paper and discarded canvases! My work is still progressing and should do till I die!

My Wildlife Passion

If you had asked me 10 years ago if I would be sitting for hours waiting for a buzzard to land or for an otter to appear it would have been a resounding no.  But it's amazing how when you start to take notice of what is around you how things really start to matter. My interest is definitely in animals and people.  I care what happens to them. 

As a wildlife artist I have been privileged to travel some amazing places, Canada, the States, Finland.  In 2005 I travelled to the Canadian Rockies. It was an amazing trip, seeing grizzly bears, elk, deer, moose, nesting osprey and bald eagles. However some of the most memorable sights have been at home or in Scotland proving you don’t need to travel to the other side of the world to experience special times in wildlife. It is often the time when you least expect , when something happens.  One evening I watched while an otter fished about 20 metres away.  Another time when visiting Scotland, I saw 3 red squirrels, spotted woodpecker and pheasant all within 6 square metres and all at the same time!! Sometimes the sight of the most common of animals stays in your memory too, like the little mouse clinging to the blade of grass or meeting a fox eye to eye for that spilt second.