Here is a small selection of my sketches and paintings........hope you like them....

This was my first painting, back in 2004. I painted it at Easter, up in the flat in Scotland. I had just turned 50 that year, and my family bought me a painting set, with everything I needed to start the hobby. I didn't really know much about the art scene, so I just drew and painted what took my interest. This picture came out of a magazine, but I embellished it a little. It seemed appropriate to paint Christ The Redeemer at Easter. I don't have the original now.

I also received some artist quality pencils in the set my mum bought me and they were the things that really got me started. I found that I enjoyed using the pencils, because of their simplicity. It was easy, just a pad in the pocket, a couple of pencils, and an eraser, and off I went. I then graduated onto ink, which I found much more difficult - the eraser didn't work on the inky mistakes.

There is something deeply satisfying in starting with a blank sheet of paper, and depicting a scene. Mostly I work with photographs, as I am a little too shy still to sit in the open air and paint or draw with people around. I did actually make this next ink sketch "live" on a beach in Paxos. A group of Paxiot ladies came across to look and point; fortunately I couldn't understand what they were saying, so I assumed they were saying how good the picture was................as if.

This next sketch I drew from a photograph I took when I visited Chicago in 2005. I had been lucky enough to be "forced" to spend a middle weekend in the town, sandwiched between frantic business visits. I'd spent the morning sight seeing along the "beachfront". I decided against "doing it their way" (rollerblading), and had walked the length of the promenade and back; several miles of coastline facing the Lake. I decided to strike further into the city, and was walking down Main Street, amongst all the skyscrapers and shops, when I came across this tiny church. It just seemed to be standing proudly beneath the tower blocks, as if it were the most natural thing in the World. It seemed to cry out "Give me space, I was here first!!"

Anyone who has visited Japan will recognise this famous view of Mount Fuji. I was there in the mid-nineties, and had an interesting day with Shinichi Terasawa, our agent at the time in Japan. We drove up as far as we could, parked the car,and then walked even further. My memory is quite sketchy now, but I have a photograph of the wind whipping round me, and I do remember it was quite cold. There is no real feeling of height when you are on the mountain itself - just the fact that it is more difficult to breathe than usual. Again, I sketched this from a photograph - I'd bought it in the souvenir shop on the Mount.

Sometimes you just want to sketch something you've seen in a book, or a magazine, particularly in the dark winter months.I don't find it particularly fulfilling to try to sketch outside in driving horizontal rain, or chill northerly winds. On these kind of days, I will generally just try to find some subject matter that pleases me. This next sketch (which I've called Gateways) is just one of those subjects.

When I paint I still sometimes seem to struggle with colour. The venetian water and bridge is a prime example of this inability to make things look just right. I felt I'd got the houses and composition right, but the colours just seemed oddly matched. Still........I did get the colours right in the Brazilian Flag though. I painted this for a friend's birthday. Apparently I got the number of stars wrong, but not by many. I hope she kept it, because I know she gets homesick sometimes so it may help, and I was really pleased with the finished painting. This was painted on a watercolour postcard. I enjoy working on smaller pictures sometimes. The size seems to suit my style when I'm in a particularly precise mood. I can use smaller brushes and really get some detail down......

I have given a few pictures away, especially if people have said they like them. I like to give them away, but at the same time it's a strange feeling, because sometimes it's as if you have given away part of yourself. I didn't expect to feel that about my sketches and stuff. After all, they really are just a way for me to relax, and feel better about myself, on those really tough days.

Loch Awe in Argyll. One of the most peaceful places I have ever spent time. I sketched in pencil first, and then finally got round to painting a very similar scene.

My mum has the original painting now.

The Christmas kitten, our first real family pet (apart from hamsters and the like). She had a superior air, but just loved to be stroked under her chin. Her eyes would squeeze tight shut and her nose would point

to the ceiling in ecstacy.