Portraits painted in watercolour

I’m a portrait painter working principally in watercolour, although I also enjoy creating portraits in pencil and charcoal. My main passion as an artist is in painting and drawing the human face and figure, whether from life or from good quality photographs, and watercolour remains a favourite medium to work in – I love it’s transparency and subtlety which can be powerfully brought to bear in achieving a likeness in a portrait.

My background is in commercial illustration but in recent years I’ve concentrated much more on portrait commissions and on producing watercolour paintings as an exhibiting artist; I was very happy to be made an Associate Member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art last year and, as well as regularly exhibiting with the SGFA, I’ve also had my work shown at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour exhibitions at the Mall Galleries, London, most recently in March this year (2023). 

As a commercial illustrator I’ve had work appear in print & on various products – from children’s books & adult non-fiction to Waitrose mugs and English Heritage giftware. But I’ve also, more recently, appeared in print in my capacity as an exhibiting and commissioned artist – for example my piece on creating house portraits (which I also do) was published in The Artist magazine a couple of years ago, and I’ve also had a 3-page article about my work as an artist appear in ‘Kent Life’ magazine. Like most artists, I also try to maintain a presence on the various social media channels, through posting work regularly – something that it’s not always easy to keep up with!