ABOUT

I’ve always been fascinated with illusion in art. While growing up I found Graham Rust’s ‘trompe l’oeil’ murals in his book “The Painted House” particularly inspiring.  I find rock painting to be an ideal art form because it enables me to combine a lifelong love of animals with a realistic artistic technique to produce a 3D illusion!

My choice of subject is mostly inspired by the stone’s shape, including any irregularities it might have.  I don’t begin work until I have the animal’s posture, colouring and expression clearly visualized in my mind.  After that I focus on the actual painting process, building up layers of colour and adding the finest details last.

As a child I spent a lot of time observing the intricate details of the plants, animals and birds around me, and also the way they interacted with each other.  This had a lot of influence on my artistic style.  I love to portray ‘close up’ moments in the busy lives of the creatures I paint and to capture their expressions and emotions. 

I paint in acrylic, and I enjoy its flexibility, in that it is possible to combine a watercolour-like transparency with oil-like richness. For my wall paintings I use wooden panels instead of canvas as a surface because the smoothness makes it possible to paint very fine details.

This page would not be complete without a mention of my two faithful companions and occasional artist’s models of the past eleven or so years. They are pictured below, doing as usual an excellent job of moral support while I work.

Work in Progress

Chicken Chat

The Studio Snoozers!

Mousewhisker Studio is so named because of the mouse which hops onto my signature when I’m not looking.  The ‘whisker’ part expresses my aspiration to create art ‘fine enough to be painted with a mouse’s whisker!’.