Painter of Flowers
'Sensations form the foundation of my work and they are imperishable'
These were Cezanne's sentiments and I share them.
I'm a painter based in Hadleigh, Suffolk, who paints flowers plein air and in the studio. I dabble with landscape too and occasionally still paint dogs by commission. Having studied Art at A' level and experimented with pastel in the aftermath, I undertook an Oil Painting Diploma at the Norfolk Painting School, graduating in 2021. It was here that I studied the Old Masters in depth and found new ways to express myself in paint. Excited by my initial experiments with colour and pattern, I turned to flowers as my main vehicle of expression.
Teaching
I offer one-to-one and small group tuition at my studio in Hadleigh. If you'd like to come and paint some flowers with me or enjoy some tuition in your own garden, please drop me a line ... and click here for Workshops.
Previous exhibitions:
Ipswich Art Society
Colchester Art Society
Institute of East Anglian Art, Holt, Norfolk
'Best of British' - The Gallery Holt, Norfolk
The Leaping Hare, Wyken, nr Bury St Edmunds
'Heart of Suffolk' annual winter exhibition Thorpe Morieux
Pond Gallery, Snape Maltings
The Old Goods Shed, Clare
Grundisburgh House, nr Woodbridge
Hadleigh Old School - 'Inspired by Benton End' 2025
Brushstroke 26 - Sudbury Arts Centre
'Revival' - A2Arts (solo exhibition), Silwood Barns, Bildeston, Suffolk
Upcoming exhibitions
Cobbold & Judd Modern & Contemporary Art Sale, Stoke by Nayland, Friday 13th - 20th November 2026
Heart of Suffolk, Thorpe Morieux - 28th & 29th November 2026
'Beating the Bounds' Hadleigh Old School - April 2027
'Inspired by Columbine Hall' - September 2027
I set about turning my dream of becoming an artist into a reality soon after my mother died in 2016. It was during this watershed when I began to experiment with oil that something sparked and I thank the Lord it did because I had felt quite lost and empty until this point. Before long, I had hunted down two of the most dynamic masters of the medium I was able to find - both within striking distance. The first was Romantic Impressionist painter Hugo Grenville and the second, Martin Kinnear, founder of the Norfolk Painting School with whom I undertook a year-long diploma course. Both of them taught me how to paint with vigour and expression and helped my dream to crystallise. Through the medium of flowers, I eventually found my escape discovering that successful picture-making didn't require a load of slavish imitation but, more importantly, a few concrete ground rules to do with applying paint, managing colour and creating 'range'. Other than that it was all about practice and finding the confidence to let go, allowing nature to step in and speak through me with all its rhythm, energy and idiosyncrasy.
Inspired by Benton End 2025
In Autumn 2024 I teamed up with seven local artist friends and began visiting the house and gardens of Benton End, Hadleigh - the place that was formerly the home of Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines and known as the East Anglian School of painting and Drawing. Calling ourselves the 'Inspired by Benton End Artists', we were the first group of professional creatives in forty years to be given independent access to the house to paint, research and collaborate - and on the 12th and 13th April our studies, from paintings and ceramics to sketchbooks and journals, went on show at Hadleigh Old School.
Of all the old masters, I can think of few who mastered the art of flower-painting as successfully as Cedric and so, as a flower painter myself, I feel truly blessed to have the legacy of Benton End here in Hadleigh. The idea of the artist/plantsman is also the dream for me. In the Summer months I divide my time between painting and gardening and, as well as tending to my own small garden, assist others in theirs. I paint outdoors whenever the opportunity allows and this summer spent a week in Malibu painting the Agaves, Aloes and Aeoniums and other plants suited to the Californian climate - my most adventurous plein air experience yet!
