I am an artist and jazz musician who has drawn, painted, sculpted and played and written music since schooldays. Also a keen black-and-white photographer from early teens. I grew up in Worcestershire and Pembrokeshire and now live in Mortlake, a part of Richmond upon Thames. 
 

           Going up to New College, Oxford as an Open Scholar in physics, I finished up with an MA in philosophy, politics and economics. I played clarinet in the University Jazz Band (the OUJB), and studied drawing part-time at the Ruskin Schools. Painting and drawing studies continued at St Martins in London. Work in advertising and PR brought a thorough grounding in graphic design, layout and typography as well as a lot of journalism.  In 1970 I became head of PR for the Courtaulds Group, at that time the UK’s 6th largest company, from which post I resigned after two years to return to more creative work. 

         

          Among the more creative work I enjoyed during the sixties was working with Gavin Lyall in co-writing the film Moon Zero Two, along with Frank Hardman, which involved some deep and detailed space research where the physics came in very useful.  I also wrote the lyrics for the title song "Moon Zero Two" working with amazing USA jazz musician Don Ellis who wrote the melody - and the rest of the film music. Julie Driscoll sang our song wonderfully behind the main titles.
         

          My design-and-invention studio/workshop enterprise Bokonon Productions came into being in 1972, dealing in graphic design, architectural model-making, prototype-production, toy design and games inventing. Twenty-plus of my games inventions have been marketed internationally, the best known being “Rubik’s Magic Strategy Game” which to date has sold over half a million worldwide. During these Bokonon years – the 70's and 80's – I continued to paint, draw, wood-carve and to model and sculpt in plaster, clay, metal and polyester resins.

          But by the early 1990's it became increasingly clear that painting and drawing were imperative and essential for me, and other activities had to be backwatered. I do find time to run a small jazz group, and compose songs and jazz numbers and Pat Starr has sung several of these with the band. But for the rest I have to be – and enjoy being – a full-time artist.

          These paintings and drawings should speak for themselves better than I can.  They range from figurative and naturalistic to wholly abstract. The paintings are mostly in oils (though there are also some strange and exotic mixed media productions), and the drawings are mainly in inks, charcoal, chalks or pastel. I have been a member for many years of the Society of Graphic Fine Art (SGFA) whose aim is to promote excellence in drawing and I've also been a member of the Musicians' Union since 1982.

          Among my many teachers and gurus I wish to name especially Gavin Lyall, Elizabeth Shubart, Menashe Kadishman, Tom Lupton, Patsy Shillinglaw, Derek Hulme, Dr Richard Baines, Christine Byron and Jeff Nuttall.

          My work has been, and continues to be, widely shown. Paintings have been selected for annual exhibitions of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and drawings for the Pastel Society's annual shows, including their Centenary Exhibition in 2000. I also show drawings every year with the Society of Graphic Fine Art. Please go to my Exhibitions page for a summary of past exhibitions, including one-man shows, and for a glimpse of what's coming up in the next few months