I grew up in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, during my formative years. From 1965 until 1979 Rhodesia was regarded by the international community as a rogue state, having declared independence from England without the latter's consent. It was therefore subjected to economic sanctions for those years. We had little access to the culture developments of Europe during that time. I was oblivious to the movements of the art world. I painted and drew from the early years in a representative style, uninfluenced by European trends.

When I returned to England and trained as a lawyer I developed a growing desire to paint. I wanted to learn how to paint in a traditional style.

I was aware that the principles and methods of drawing and painting had been taught in earlier generations and I wanted to know what they were. There was no English art school that could teach me this. I would have had to discover these principles for myself by trial and error which would be very time consuming. It would also be a waste of time because it would be like reinventing the wheel.

I was fortunate to find out about Torrent's art school in Spain. The day after I discovered it's existence I flew to Spain. The drilling and training there has stood me in good stead. I learned by repetition and discipline the essential elements. These were:

1) Proportion
2) Line and Volume
3) Chiaroscuro
4) Colour

A professional artist uses all of these elements at once but they can be learned one at a time in a logical sequence, one stage leading to the next.

I believed in the maxim "An amatuer is someone who practises until he gets it right. A professional is one who practices until he never gets it wrong."

The maestro Torrents died tragically at 47 and his school subsequently closed down. I was so inspired by his form of instruction that I felt that at some point I would like to resurrect it and pass it on.

In 1998, while on a month course in old master techniques in Florence, I met students Scott Polschmidt and Ann Witheridge who were later to run the art school in Florence.

The Florence school also taught in the traditional manner, pulling on a store of knowledge that had been passed on through painters by the generations.

In 2004, the three of us combined to set up an art school in London, pooling our joint acquired knowledge of the traditional training techniques as taught in the ateliers of Italy, France and Spain until the modern art movement swept them away in the first half of the 20th Century.

Hence the Lavender Hill Studios in London. We make no apologies for our retro-adventure. We believe that representational painting has it's place alongside any other form of the visual arts. Just as in music, classical exists happily alongside Jazz, R&B, Pop etc. The classical music training institutions still continue to exist, but the traditional painting schools have been largely wiped out in Western Europe. The same cannot be said of America, where there are over (70) traditional ateliers. 

To visit the Lavender Hill Studios website click here >