I will resist the temptation to tell you that I am the best sporting artist that has ever picked up a brush, partly because I don't believe this to be so, but also because I think that paintings should speak for themselves. All art should convey the artist's passion for his or her subject. If my paintings stir memories of a particular place or event then they have gone some way to achieving my objective as an artist. I doubt I shall ever paint that perfect picture, but in common with all artists I thrill at the challenge of that ever distant goal.

Light is the key ingredient in all paintings. This is harder to achieve in watercolour as it allows you no second chance. If you were to attempt to rework a watercolour painting you would end up with a muddy mess. Despite this major limitation I love it as a medium, although my bulging litter bin will testify to this not being an altogether harmonious relationship. When you do get it right with watercolour the result has a freshness and purity that, to my mind, surpasses any other medium. My aim in my paintings is to give the viewer, not just a pretty picture of a bird or animal, but to convey a feeling of time, place, and weather.

I am a self taught artist who started with a passion for wildlife, and in particular for fishing and shooting, and then worked at the means with which to communicate that passion to others. This has been a long process, but every outing with rod or gun feeds the desire to paint with fresh images and ideas.

As a child I enjoyed drawing and painting and from my early teens many of my paintings were of birds. It was my first outings with a gun that motivated me to spend more time at my art. Most shooting trips ended up fruitless, a situation that still persists some thirty years later. I can remember the very day that set me off on the path of painting sporting pictures. I crouched on the edge of an upland pool near my home in West Wales, with wintery sunset and the first hint of a frosty night to come, a pair of teal ripped through the air and settled onto the water before me. With a thumping heart I stood up emerging from my hiding place in order to flush them. They rocketed into the air and in my excitement I forgot to release the safety catch on my gun as they flew off against the sunset. That encounter was so vivid I went straight home to paint what I had seen. It didn't matter that I had not taken the shot, I had experienced a unique hunting moment and I wanted to get it down on paper before the bright sunset, the frosted grass, and explosive teal faded from my memory.

That was in 1970 when I was fourteen, it took until 1985 to become a professional artist. On leaving school I headed for the bright lights of London to start a career in advertising sales. Throughout this time I continued to paint, working hard on my watercolour technique with the dream of one day becoming a full time artist.

It was the success of selling six wildfowl pictures in the USA through a London gallery that convinced me that my dream was possible. Following a sell out one man show in Aberdyfi,Wales, I took the plunge and moved back to my childhood home with my young family to embark on a career as a professional artist.

Today, some sixteen years later, my paintings are to be found in major collections in the UK including that of HRH Prince William, and also throughout Europe and the USA, alongside paintings by great names such as Thorburn, J.C.Harrison, and Rodger McPhail. I have been commissioned to help illustrate several major bird books, and my sporting art has been used on the covers, and within Shooting Gazette, and Shooting Times magazines along with Shooting Sportsman magazine in the USA. I am a member of the design panel of the Welsh Books Council, and have designed and illustrated the covers of a number of Welsh language books.

What of the future?, I used to fear that I would run out of ideas for paintings, now I appreciate that the challenge lies in the improving of my watercolour technique. As for ideas, they will keep coming as long as the eye sees, the body is willing, and the passion endures.