I’m a Nottingham based Pet Portrait artist using pastels on velour paper. I’m completely self-taught other than doing GCSE art many years ago, but I cannot remember a time when I haven’t been painting and drawing.

I grew up in Somerset where the surrounding Exmoor countryside inspired my love of animals. My Dad was a Point-to-Point racehorse trainer and so I was always around horses and other animals.

The first person to inspire me was my primary school art teacher and I could never thank him enough for his encouragement. I'll always remember seeing a drawing he had done of a horse's head and I decided that I wanted to be able to draw like that. From then on I spent hours in my bedroom drawing horses!

In 1998 I moved to Nottingham to study Zoology at Nottingham University and then went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant (don’t ask!). Since having my two children and taking a career break I have started doing pet portrait commissions. I find that people love the realism that can be captured using pastel and my work is in high demand.

In 2005 I won both 'The Collins Award' and 'The Peoples Award' at The Artist and Leisure Painter Magazine Exhibition. In 2008 my portrait of 'Misty' won the 'Simply the Best' exhibition at the NEC Birmingham.