Afternoon on the Ash river (Clarens) Painting

At the age of eight I discovered a book on past masters of art which awakened the artist in me, I began drawing and painting and have been creative since.. My parents wanted me to get a formal school education and were reluctant to send me to art school, however during my primary school years I had a painting teacher that was somewhat of a mentor. He convinced them that I should complete my high school years at the Johannesburg school of Art, Ballet & Music. After completing high school I went on to work for several advertising agencies and design studios. During the time I worked in advertising I was moonlighting occasionally. Freelance commissions were being offered to me frequently, so I finally decided to freelance full-time, and began working from my home studio and worked as a commercial artist for 26 years. This year I've begun painting full time as a fine artist. I’m painting to build up a body of work to exhibit in the near future.. I enjoy the outdoors / travel with my family and friends, am a keen fly-fisherman, and also cook up a storm periodically. As an artist, my journey is through depicting subjects that evoke an emotional response and visually stimulate attention. As a realist painter, I strive to explored the obscure undercurrents of the subject, the patterns and shapes, light and contrast that juxtapose to create the form which ultimately 'draws' the viewer in.. and thereby create the narrative. My fascination in painting is to capture these abstract forms, not purely to realistically depicting a form, that when completed and taken as a whole complete the visual, but to unveil nuances of the subject. The aim is for the viewer to have an affinity with a work, an analogous emotional and a personal reaction drawn from similar experiences of a moment in time or memory - the things that shape us..