A Brit living in Italy for the last 15 years, after taking early retirement from Sky News. My passions are my dogs and cats, painting, reading, and watching tennis on tv. I also love my garden, and once created a medal winning small garden for Chelsea Flower Show. Other hobbies include working with driftwood, and in the dim and distant past, pottery and silversmithing.

My part of the fee goes to my local stray dogs kennels where I have been a volunteer for over ten years. I have done a few paintings of my own dogs and cats, but mainly I am inspired by the amazing countryside around me including nearby lake Trasimeno. Plus ruined castles; domes, doors and windows; big skies; olive trees; wildflowers.

Often I work from photos, but I sometimes paint just from imagination. I have learned so much as a SKA student and have probably done most of the lessons given by Keiko Tanabe, Jane Betteridge, Graham Booth, Liz Chadderton, Randy Hale, Barry Herniman, David R Smith, Catherine Beale, Alex Tolstoy, plus some with Francesco Fontana, Joe Dowden, Jeremy Ford and Robert Dutton.

I will be having a very low key exhibition of my work in my home town of Cortona this year.

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So many people have helped me on my art journey, and I am more than happy to share any tips, tricks or experience I have gained along the way. Plus I am always ready to dole out a healthy dose of encouragement, I have had many failures, but each one of those should be regarded as a lesson learned.