Background.
I studied Fine Art at the University of Ulster, qualifying in 2001. At the time, I used photographs of textured oil paintings remixed through early digital tools to create large digital landscape pieces. I stumbled into a graduate job as a graphic designer, learning this discipline "on the job". Two years later, I started my own brand design studio and this quickly became all-encompassing. For years, I did not pick up a pencil or a brush for anything outside of work.
In 2017, a glut of mental health problems meant that I needed to find a way to switch off, so I returned to my childhood love of drawing. A way of separating creative endeavours from work and finding personal fulfilment in the act of doing.
I always work best within defined constraints, whether self-imposed or provided by a brief. I decided to focus on learning the discipline of portraiture drawing, using traditional representational methods. It's the perfect habit of concentration and application, and one that can never be completed.
I work mainly from photographic or online video references, as well as from life at local art classes.
I use my experience in design throughout my drawings. I am selective about what is left out, what is merely suggested, and what is shown in close focus. I use hard edges, textures, and thick outlines to create rhythm and composition. And I often use graphic colour combinations to jar with the more traditional methodology.
Josh in Red (2025).
This piece is from an artist's reference photo by Raw Umber Studios - a non-profit art school with online resources that I discovered during the pandemic. I was taken by Josh's calm confidence and the inquisitiveness shown by the tilt of his head and subtly furrowed brow. I used my favourite materials, Koh-I-Noor coloured pastel leads on thick Moleskine sketchbook paper. I had been experimenting with ways to pair two colour combinations in my sketches at the time and this was my first "full" drawing where I brought it through to completion.
It is the first piece I have submitted for display since leaving art college.