About Andrew

I always wanted to paint and draw. A vivid imagination and pencil were a good start.

My artistic journey began as a very detailed botanical artist and children’s book illustrator, even working with Enid Blyton’s daughter on her mother’s famous creation Noddy. Although very busy and successful as a professional artist I didn’t feel fulfilled.

I worked long hours under strict deadlines, drawing and painting botanical pieces to exact specifications. I no longer enjoyed sitting down to paint, worrying more about the outcome and if I’d be able to create the piece I needed in the short time I had. I ended up feeling stuck, unhappy and frustrated with the corner I’d painted myself into (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Then one day, I asked myself, ‘How would I really love to paint?’ The answer was in a loose, impressionistic, free style of watercolours. I wanted to focus on having fun first with my painting and to see where it would take me.

This began my journey from being a very tight detailed artist to discovering the Loose Water Colour Style. Through, trial and error and many U-turns. I developed a process that finally allowed me to consistently capture the essence of truly painting loose.

Instead of hours in the studio, I could create vibrant works of art that were fun to paint, and didn’t take huge amounts of time. The process was the opposite of how I was painting before. Instead of trying to get everything perfect, the style seemed to develop on the page by itself, as if by magic.

I am still a full time professional artist travelling and painting all over Europe. Every day I paint and absolutely love it along with teaching others amongst the fun, spills and splashes to also paint loose.