I was born in Opotiki and in 1967 I joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force as an Aircraft mechanic until 1987. it was in 1995 that I started turning the sketches I had been producing nearly all my life into paintings. Some of my old school mates can remember me getting into trouble for sketching in class and I remember my Grandfather trying to teach me to draw circles and straight lines. Painting is not easy (sketching is easy) as it is mood driven. Some take a day or so and others take months. As I am not good at organic figures i.e. humans and other animals, but I am learning, I normally concentrate on my passion, aircraft or some flying creature within landscapes. I am often influenced by music and imagery associated with music. I have recently started onto landscapes, fantasy and portraits, usually with some sort of flying object in the background, dragons, birds and man made flying things.