About

I have lived in north London since the 1990s after a childhood in Devon and Cornwall. My work is primarily drawn, often on site using sketchbooks, in a process that can lead to further drawings, paintings and digital prints.

My work has been exhibited at the Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibition, Barbican Centre, London, Rabley Drawing Centre, Wiltshire, Mall Galleries, London, the artist-run Skylark Gallery on the South Bank, and a variety of pop-ups and fairs. It is in the collections of Hampshire County Council, the University of Surrey, and many private collections, and items relating to my 1996 exhibition at Wolseley Fine Arts are held in the Tate Library, London.

I have served on the editorial and advisory boards of Urban Sketchers, and helped found London Urban Sketchers.

I have written four books about drawing: Sketchbook Reveal (see below) was published by Sketcher Press in 2024. I was the keynote speaker at the launch of the book at Sketcher Fest Edmonds, USA, in July 2024.

Sketch Your World (2014) and Pen and Ink (2016) have been translated into seven languages, and Dream Draw Design My Garden, one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2015. I have worked as a journalist for a variety of publications, including the Art Newspaper, the Guardian, Art World, Artists & Illustrators and the New Statesman.

Books

Sketchbook Reveal (2024)

Sketchbook Reveal tells the story of my drawing life through the works in seven sketchbooks, from my very first as an art student, to one of my most recent and precious, which coincided with the death of my dad in 2022. Rather than cherrypicking the best images in each, every single page from each of the sketchbooks is shown, revealing the ups and downs, the process, the notetaking, and narrative flow that goes into every sketchbook. It includes a foreword by the award-winning artist Jeanette Barnes. Sketchbook Reveal is published in the US by Sketcher Press.

Sketch Your World (2014)

This includes the work of more than 60 international artists, is published in the UK (Apple Press), US (North Light), China (Shanghai People's Fine Art), Asia (Page One), France (Eyrolles), Germany (Christopher Verlag), and Korea (Art Books).

Exhibitions include

2024 Sketchbook Fair, Waterfront Center, Edmonds, Washington, USA, July 2024

2022 London by Urban Sketchers group show, Art Pavilion, Mile End Park, London, 8-16 October

2021 Drawn Poetry 2020, Stadswekerij de Kas, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2017 Sketch 2017, a touring group exhibition of 100 sketchbooks showing at the Rabley Drawing Centre, Marlborough, Black Swan Arts, Frome, Plymouth College of Art, Devon, and the Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University

2017 Group show, Timberyard Soho, London W1

2014-16 Urban Sketchers London, Timberyard cafe, Old Street, London

2013 Sketchbooks, Greater Victoria Public Library Central Branch, Canada 

2013 Seeing the World, One Drawing at a Time, Ackland Museum of Art store, South Carolina, US

2012 Urban Sketchers London group show, Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London

2012 Grand Designs Live, London

2011 N16 Pop-up, Stoke Newington, London

2010 Group show, Oxo Gallery, London

2009-12 Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Park, London

2008-14 Skylark Galleries, Oxo Tower, London

2006-07 Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Space, London, and tour

2004 Hunting Art Prizes, Royal College of Art, London, and tour

1997 University of Surrey, Guildford, solo show

1996 In Search of England, Wolseley Fine Arts, London, solo show

1993 Paintings, Barbican Centre, solo show

1989-92 Studio Gallery, Bristol