About

How did you get into drawing fights? I was initially inspired by graffiti in Melbourne and I started spraying walls myself. On my return to Bristol I moved from spray painting to painting and illustrating. I was inspired by events in the history of Bristol and I started to draw riots and protests. I have always been fascinated by history and I wanted to tell the story of Bristol’s history in paintings.

What artists inspire you? My style is inspired by the two dimensional quality of the Bayeux Tapestry and some of my earliest illustrations were my own representation of the Battle of Hastings. One of my hopes was to paint the history of Bristol in a series of riots, protests and battles: a social commentary. I painted five of these events and then moved in a different direction, towards medieval events. Someday I'd like to return to Bristol's history, but I'm enjoying medieval history a bit too much at the moment. Alongside the Tapestry my biggest inspiration is Herge (Tintin). I really like his characters and use of simple flat colours, which I have carried over into my work.

How can people buy one of your pictures and how much do they cost? All of my pictures are digitised when they're finished and they can be reproduced, as Giclee prints, at sizes ranging from a massive A0 down to A4 or even smaller for cards. Big A1 prints are £120, an A2 would be £65, A3 at £35 and the costs reduce as you scale down the size. An A4 print would cost £25.

What’s the story behind the Queen Square image that you created for the Bristol Pound competition? My Queens Square riot picture was inspired by the graffiti of Scott Barden on the Bath Road in Brislington. Scott had depicted the 1831 riot and this piece had stood the test of time. It was in place when I moved to Bristol in 2003 and it has only (in the last few months of 2017) been sprayed over by other painters. I loved this image, but I felt that I could do a version that was more dynamic and stylised. I also felt that the images created at the time, in 1831, were not really very interesting. They focused on the destruction of property rather than the people involved in the riot. It took about two years and repeated attempts to improve the image before it arrived in its current state. I read several book about the events of the riot, took pictures of the statue in Queens Square and studied the clothes and uniforms of the period. A lot of research has to go into a historical image if you want to try and present it as an accurate reflection of an actual event.