60 images Created 12 Jan 2015
Artwork
After doing my ‘A’ levels at grammar school I decided that I wanted to develop my artistic abilities so I did an art foundation course, and was subsequently accepted at the Cheltenham School of Fine Art to do a Dip. Ad. Course in Fine Art and Sculpture. But I had already caught the travel bug and my itchy feet prompted me to abandon that great opportunity, and I embarked on an epic overland trip to India and Nepal on my 20th birthday in 1970. Photography became my creative outlet during my travels, but I still retained a desire to use my other creative talents, which I did sporadically. It wasn’t until I started working in schools that my artistic urges were fully galvanised because of the children. I devised art workshops to do with them, and in particular making whale and dolphin mobiles. I discovered a penchant for using chalk pastels for sketching large pictures of whales and dolphins, which I did in front of the children and left with the schools for them to keep. I had also started making puppets in Alaska, combining natural and recycled materials with papier mache, and took that into the schools as well. I also discovered quite late in my life that I loved painting large marine murals, and was commissioned to paint some in schools. I particularly enjoy teaching art to children because it encourages me to use my artistic talents more than I would otherwise do. It has always been one of my objectives to eventually write and illustrate children’s books on the environment, and also combine illustrations with my photos in books about my travelling experiences, starting with a book about my twenty years kayaking with humpback whales in Southeast Alaska.
