I live and work in the UK and my studio is located in my house in Surbiton, on the outskirts of London.

The house is designed around my passion for painting. Prior to moving here, my wife and I had been living in a tiny Victorian cottage close to the River Thames, near Kingston. A lovely location, but the lack of space was a real problem when it came to having Home Shows of my work!

The new house is lovely. Although modern, it's also got a lot of character and plenty of space for me to work and exhibit. It's a joy to have my own dedicated studio at last. In our previous house, the studio was the size of a broom cupboard! In addition, our new home is also ideal for exhibitions and entertaining.

We usually have two Home Shows a year. As well as being a social event, I sell quite a few of my paintings during the course of the evening. There is never any pressure on our guests to make a purchase, but my wife, Fliss, does a superb job of "softening them up" with her delicious food and plenty of wine! Perhaps that's why the events continue to be successful!

Besides painting, my other passion is gardening. Of course, it being a new house, we started with a blank canvas -- ie: mud patch full of builders' rubble. You can see how we've managed to transform it into a little oasis. The style is what we've dubbed "Japarranean" (a mixture of Japanese and Mediterranean plants). Sounds strange, but it appears to work perfectly.