malstrummer

I was born in Birmingham on 7th April 1949 and after I left school I worked in a commercial art studio until the age of 18. This was followed by three years with an exhibition and display company before I ended up as a full-time professional freelance artist.

One day by chance I was introduced to Bill Ward, the drummer of a local Birmingham band Black Sabbath and we soon became good friends. Eventually along with Bills girlfriend and a couple of roadies for the band we moved from the city into a farm house in the country.

Over the next four years life became pretty crazy and I started to spend more and more time with the band, touring, at the recording studios and of course the mad parties.

Although at that time life was mainly centred around the band I still continued painting. I received a number of commissions from stars including a mural in the house of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and paintings for Alvin Lee (Ten Years After) , Ian Paice (Deep Purple and later Whitesnake), Ozzy Ozbourne (Black Sabbath) and George Harrison (The Beatles).

In the late seventies I moved to Devon and my love of the ocean grew as I began painting seascapes to sell in local exhibitions. In the early eighties I painted a number of portraits including those of Bob Marley and John Lennon as I felt inspired by them and what they stood for. In these years I was becoming more aware of environmental issues and became a member of Greenpeace for whom I went on to paint The Rainbow and The Rubicon.

Nature and the environment and especially dolphins and whales began to feature heavily in my work. I became interested in whales because they are the largest creatures upon this planet and yet a perfect example of grace and harmony in their environment and dolphins for their wonderful playful spirit.

In 1990 I joined an agency and for the next eight years my work was sold internationally as posters, prints, cards, jigsaws, plates and many other formats. Relations with the agency eventually broke down and I decided to leave and go solo again.

My work since the agency once again took a more fantasy type direction and I worked on number of themes from hobbity type dwarf characters to visions of imaginary magical lands and images inspired from dreams. I have also in my time been involved in many projects on a voluntary basis for local charities, schools and good causes. Ive created a number of large scale murals in local schools as well as in private houses. In recent times I have got into digital art.