"I always had an affinity for the visual arts and am inspired by the natural world, the art of others and my own imagination. Art allowed me to create my own worlds, to bring my imagination to reality. And as my skills improved the things I was able to create brought me a lot of satisfaction, and there was a constant desire to make each work better than the last. At school I took every art subject that I could, and then after one year studying art at polytech I began painting full time.

I’m a mostly self taught artist, although I found that by practicing on my own I was improving steadily and without guidance I was naturally developing my own methods which suited me and led to my own style emerging.

I work in oil on canvas. Oil paint allows so many possibilities that I don’t want to work with anything else. Its slow drying times suits my methods and the high level of detail and finish I’m looking for.

I think I’m a surreal realist. I paint scenes with realistic figures and objects, but never arranged how you’d find them in the real world and often from multiple view points.

I mostly enjoy trying to create another world in a painting, or a way of seeing a whole area or idea without restrictions or viewpoints. While cityscapes are now my specialty I have always enjoyed landscapes, real or imagined and have always wanted to be able to paint any subject.

I was born of Polish parents in Wellington, where I still live. It’s New Zealand’s capital and a cool little city.