I was born in London in 1956 but never met my parents. I was adopted by Garth and Deb Insoll who brought me and my younger sister, Sian, up in a typically middle class household of the time in Hertfordshire. I was sent to a prep school in Windsor aged eight, and then on to a Public school, where I used to spend as much time as possible in the Art school. I don’t think I was particularly talented then but I worked hard and my A level pictures became the beginning of my love of drawing and painting. I loved Braque and Picasso from an early age as well as the impressionists and Henry Moore who lived and worked relatively nearby. I met Moore properly later on. I had an attic room in my parents’ home where I produced my first paintings. In 1975 I started work as a junior auditor in the city of London whilst also studying for my accountancy exams. I left in 1978 as I had been accepted for a place at Chelsea school of Art on the evidence of my Attic studio paintings as well as all the drawings I had done in my company law manual which was printed one side only.

I moved from a flat in Fulham to a boat on the Thames after a summer working for the National Trust. Chelsea was a marvellous Art school an thanks to one or two charismatic teachers I developed a real desire to paint well. I was influenced by the Euston road painters and their followers which helped my drawing but maybe not my painting. I went on to Falmouth school of Art , as well as enjoying a term at at Camberwell school of Art which seemed to offer the standards and discipline I thought every Art school should have at that time. However, I was going to France quite a bit at this time and I slowly returned to the Art that had originally interested me. In retrospective I think I have actually learnt more from the French painting that I was exposed to during my many trips to Normandy, where my parents had a small flat in Villers s Mer near to Deauville where a few years later I had a dealer who managed a gallery in both Deauville and Trouville. After Falmouth school of Art I had the opportunity to continue my studies by doing an MA and Phd but I decided upon advice from no less than John Piper who was the subject of my first degree thesis, that it was time to strike out as a painter.

I moved from Falmouth to Portscatho where I had friends and worked at many part time jobs whilst developing my Art. Eventually I started a co- op Gallery which developed into a society of Artists which has just entered year 41 as I write this in April 2025.
My exhibiting history has been covered at length in other publications but the pivotable one was a retrospective at Falmouth Art Gallery in June 2001. The exhibition catalogue was subtitled Painting about Painting and the author Sarah Drury (now married to the distinguished Art critic Andrew Lambirth) was very perceptive in that she realised my work is about Painting as well as any particular individual vision. I see painting and drawing styles as just visual language and when asked about using so many different ways of expressing ideas I counter by pointing out that if you learn French you do not forget your English.

Many of my bigger and more abstract pictures are meant to be the opposite of an advertising hoarding which, when well designed, convey the message with a strong image within seconds. My paintings are meant to do the opposite. They should arouse enough interest in the viewer to explore all the visual connections. At first I managed this only in still lifes but as time has gone on I have managed this within landscape as well as Portraiture. Most of the pictures have a very figurative origin which I then try to develop into some thing more than just representation. I take great liberties with my models, but only when they have gone home.
Augustus John (another hero when a young man) commented that we often go back to our interests aged 17. Today I still love Picasso, Braque and other lesser known school of Paris Artists, especially Antoni Clave for instance, but now I hope I have the experience to do paintings which are entirely my own. This said I am still working on a transcription copy of a Delacroix, who is also a huge hero and influence upon my work