Biography

Born in England on the outskirts of London in 1967, Stephen's love of nature was cultivated by regular family camping holidays, along with trips to nature reserves, parks and woodland. It was during these times away from the hustle and bustle, grey concrete and noise of the city, that he grew to love the countryside.

         Sunny days spent wandering through fields and along rivers, playing with his siblings in woodland and forests. Nature was all around; the wildlife, the sounds, smells and colours. Distant bird song, the snap of twigs under foot, a rustling in the leaves, shadows of a grey cloud racing across the fields, sunlight dancing on a river.

Growing up his bedroom walls were covered in drawings and paintings of birds, plants, family pets and wild animals. Encouraged by his parents, he was always drawing and filled countless sketchpads.

Another source of inspiration was his father, a commercial artist, who always made sure he had an abundance of art supplies and advice.

At school art was the only subject that he enjoyed, but he found himself disillusioned after his father was made redundant, and never considered art to be something that you could do to make a decent living . Leaving education at the earliest opportunity, he spent a lot of his adult life going from one dead-end job to the next, spending less and less time drawing and painting.
         This would continue until several years after meeting his wife who, after discovering his artistic talent, encouraged him to follow his dreams and use the gift that God has blessed him with, by becoming a professional artist in 2014.

Stephen now lives in Pontypool, Wales with his wife Fran and their 3 cats, where he is a professional pet portrait and wildlife artist. His paintings have been displayed at various galleries, and sold around the UK. He is a self-taught artist who works mainly in pastels and acrylics, with a passion for working with colour and light to portray the subject with a high degree of detail and realism.
          He also has a desire, as we all should, to preserve the ever diminishing natural habitats of the world's endangered species, as well as conservation of the natural world resources in general.

 

'We are destroying this planet. Each year we lose more and more species to deforestation, pollution and climate change. Each person must take responsibility for the actions they take to contribute to or help prevent and reverse this destruction.'

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'Our natural world is disappearing before our eyes. We have to save it.'  George Monbiot
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/29/natural-world-disappearing-save-it