Born in Cornwall, the sea has always been a major inspiration. After formal education I joined the merchant Navy and sailed the Pacific and Atlantic. From on board ship I applied to the Slade School of Fine Art with drawings from my voyages and was accepted. I specialised in Printmaking and went onto a postgraduate course at the Central School,of Art from where I started teaching Lithography at the School.
This was followed by a year teaching at the University of Wisconsin USA and on returning I founded and set up a Fine Art Lithography Workshop, Ashby Studios printing artists Lithographs. Amongst the many productions were the lithographs for Tom Phillips’ ‘Dante’s Inferno’.
My next project was to write an art instructional book, ‘Texture- how to draw and paint’ which led me to teach painting, drawing and Art History.
My interest in Japanese Art has led me to develop skills in woodcuts and linocuts. The work explores the forms and rhythms of the natural world. Starting with drawings and photographs the work goes through a process of distilling and simplifying the complexities to find a more abstract and expressive graphic equivalent. I am particularly interested in exploring the relationship between positive and negative mark making and also the borderline between the figurative and the abstract.
Exhibitions
I have exhibited my work widely in this country, Europe and USA. Galleries include Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool; Stedlijk Museum, Holland; Gallery 209, Wisconsin, USA. My prints are in a number of public and private collections, including the V&A Museum.
Recent exhibitions include:
2022 Crouch End Art Trail
Affordable Art Battersea