Originally from Cheshire and now living in Waltham Abbey, Essex for over 30 years I am a photographer and self-taught animal portrait artist which includes both domestic pets and wildlife.

From an early age, animals have inspired me and today my work involves capturing their character and personality through photography and fine art drawings, creating unique portraits.

Initially using my own cats as models and then moving on to other domestic pets and wildlife animals.

Using photographic reference material has the advantage of enabling clients to commission a portrait of a loved pet who might have sadly passed away thereby creating a long-lasting memorial.

My motivation is always to capture the essence of an animal that will be a constant reminder of their place in our lives and for me, it is always a privilege to be asked to do this.

When choosing subject matter outside of commissioned work, I will search through hundreds of high quality images in the search for animals with real character.

Those are the ones I know I just have to draw.

The pigments used are high quality and lightfast and the drawing surfaces are of archival museum quality.

Working with coloured pencils is a slow methodical process but it enables me to get maximum detail and texture into my work, creating drawings that are realism without crossing into the world of hyper realism.

Using different surfaces will depend on the end result I want to achieve. I use drafting film and pastelmat to create very fine details with pan pastels on many of the backgrounds to achieve a soft and natural look.  I also use watercolour paint with coloured pencils in a mixed media as this gives a different style which offers more free expression to my work.