I am 37 years old, married with two children and based in Bristol, England, I have been painting since I was eight and started selling in exhibitions and taking portrait commissions from when I was eleven. My mother was an artist working with acrylics back then and I started by using her paints, so Acrylics have always been my preferred medium, although I do dabble with oils, pastels, watercolour and ink. Upon leaving school at the age of sixteen I became a professional guitarist, singer, and although I always continued to paint, I hadn't considered art as a career option. In 1994 I returned to college and University to study for a combined Music and Art degree, but unfortunately I ran out of money and faith and quit in my first year. Shortly after this I suffered with a fully collapsed left lung and a damaged right lung and spent a while in hospital. This, splitting with my band, and meeting my Wife caused me to retire from Music. In 2002, after a two year stretch of being unemployed, I started trying to get work as an illustrator with help of the New Deal scheme. For a couple of years I struggled with greeting card, book and advertising illustrations, even signing a contract with a New York publisher, although that never really took off. I was fortunate to be selected for the 2004 BP portrait awards at The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) and received a great deal of local press attention, this enabled me to produce a small but very successful solo exhibition. I have since exhibited another three times at the NPG as well as many other London exhibitions including the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (The Mall Galleries), The Hunting Art Prizes(Royal College of Art) and the SF Sunday Times Watercolour exhibition. During the last couple of years I have won three watercolour awards a people's choice award at a local Museum and was selected by Sir Peter Blake for a commission to paint Bristol based Aardman directors for The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath. Unlike many people in the art industry I started trying to paint for a living because I couldn't get work anywhere else. Although by looking at my CV it might appear that I have been quite successful, I am still trying very hard to forge a career in a highly competitive business and am struggling to barely make a living. I am a member of several artist websites, enjoy meeting like minded people and will try to do anything I can to help anyone. Please send me a message if you have any advice or would like any from me, I am very friendly :)