I left art college in the mid- ‘70s to become a designer working for an architectural practice, and later a freelance perspective artist. Before the widespread use of computers, this form of drawing and painting was a very important and persuasive tool to convey design proposals, often being the first three-dimensional incarnation of a project, and capable of generating huge sums of money.
The step from visualiser to artist was quite daunting, and one which I took in the summer of 2002. I had become increasingly restricted by the scope of design briefs, which effectively dictated all aspects of my work. But, suddenly finding the freedom to paint with no restrictions, required a completely new mindset. My approach was to give myself the same advice you would give to an aspiring writer: ‘write about what you know, therefore paint about what you know’. This meant concentrating mainly on architectural themes, and living in London would supply the initial subject matter.
In 2002, there were relatively few artists working on the streets of
