Mark has always had a keen interest in natural history and art, from an early age he can recall spending hours watching the birds and mammals that frequented his garden. Studying books and watching television documentaries about any kind of wildlife. His artistic career also started early, drawing and painting the various animals around him including the family pets. From about the age of eleven or twelve he started to sell his work to friends and acquaintances, taking on a number of commissions." I suppose I had an idea from that early age I would one day, love to make a living by painting wildlife" he says.    Mark's art teacher at school spotted his enthusiasm and suggested that he continued his education at Art College.
 So at the age of sixteen he attended Amersham College of Art, where having completed a one year foundation course , he decided to specialize in illustration. "I can always remember trying to paint a wildlife subject regardless of the brief we where given" he recalls.   Eventually he got disillusioned with a string of uninspiring projects and decided to drop out. Whilst working in a number of different jobs, Mark continued to paint wildlife and the amount of interest in his work started to grow.  He began to show his work at a selection of exhibitions across the country and also became a member of a number of wildlife art societies, including the Marwell Art Society and the Wildlife Art Society.
  Working exclusively in acrylics, Mark has combined this medium with a passion for reptiles and amphibians, to produce some exciting and unusual paintings of these cold-blooded creatures. "I'm really fascinated by the colour and texture of their skin and trying to convey an intimate portrayal of these beautiful creatures," he says.
This can be seen quite clearly in Mark's latest work, where the subject can be so dominant they almost completely fill the painting.
On a number of occasions, the subject is also cropped in an unusual way to enhance the composition and give the viewer a feeling of being really close. In 2000 Mark submitted three paintings to the annual Society of Wildlife Artists exhibition at the Mall galleries in London and was surprised to hear that all three had been accepted. "This is a really prestigious show where only the cream of artists are invited to exhibit, I felt like I had arrived," he said. Later in September of that year, Mark decide to take the plunge and paint as a full time career.
    He has completed a week at Nature in Art, in Twigworth as their artist in residence, to coincide with an exhibition entitled "The Frog Chorus, a celebration of frogs, toads and reptiles". Having also been accepted for the Society of Wildlife Artists exhibition in 2001 and 2002, he is now starting to achieve a certain amount of recognition as a reptile artist and has just taken part in a major exhibition in Florida in 2002 entitled "Cold-blooded Creations". Mark has also been invited back to Nature in Art as artist in residence from the 11th -16th November 2003 and is now looking forward to more exciting opportunities to make a success of his ambition to create his "Art of a different Nature".

HOME PAGE