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Places
Some places matter because of their beauty. Others draw us because of what happened there: the people who lived or worked there, a story that has been told about them, a writer or musician who found inspiration there, or the memories we ourselves attach to them.Those are the places I want to paint: places that have acquired a personality through the interaction of landscape, people and time.
Through watercolour and screen print, colour and changing atmosphere, I try to reveal not simply what those places look like, but something of why they matter. Because a place can be somewhere we live, somewhere we remember, somewhere we have lost or somewhere we have yet to discover.
Some places matter because of their beauty. Others draw us because of what happened there: the people who lived or worked there, a story that has been told about them, a writer or musician who found inspiration there, or the memories we ourselves attach to them.Those are the places I want to paint: places that have acquired a personality through the interaction of landscape, people and time.
Through watercolour and screen print, colour and changing atmosphere, I try to reveal not simply what those places look like, but something of why they matter. Because a place can be somewhere we live, somewhere we remember, somewhere we have lost or somewhere we have yet to discover.
My Working Place
I live and work in Masham in North Yorkshire, surrounded by a landscape I have painted for many years. The Yorkshire Dales remain one of the great constants in my work, but my curiosity about place has taken me much further.
I've painted abbeys and castles, cathedrals and market towns, railway landscapes and industrial remains, pilgrimage sites and places associated with writers, musicians and legends.
The subjects may appear very different, but the question behind them is usually the same:
My hope is that the paintings make people look again.
I live and work in Masham in North Yorkshire, surrounded by a landscape I have painted for many years. The Yorkshire Dales remain one of the great constants in my work, but my curiosity about place has taken me much further.
I've painted abbeys and castles, cathedrals and market towns, railway landscapes and industrial remains, pilgrimage sites and places associated with writers, musicians and legends.
The subjects may appear very different, but the question behind them is usually the same:
My hope is that the paintings make people look again.
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How I Work
Watercolour gives me the combination of control and unpredictability I need. I begin with observation, but I'm not trying to reproduce a place photographically. I simplify. I layer washes. I allow distant hills to dissolve into one another and reduce buildings to the shapes that make them recognisable.
Colour is particularly important. I use it less to describe precisely what was in front of me than to communicate my experience of being there. I'm drawn to changing conditions—mist, snow, moonlight, dawn, evening and approaching weather—because they can make a familiar landscape suddenly reveal another personality.
My screen prints explore place through silhouette, colour and negative space. Working with a deliberately restricted palette, I simplify architecture and landscape into strong graphic forms, allowing familiar places to hover between recognition and abstraction. Light becomes a structural element, appearing in windows, reflections, skies and areas of untouched paper, while bridges, rooftops, railway lines and architectural details create rhythm and pattern.
Like my watercolours, the prints are concerned less with literal description than with the character of a place. Human figures are rare, but evidence of human presence is everywhere: in cathedrals and stations, bridges and streets, industrial structures and the landscapes people have shaped.
Watercolour gives me the combination of control and unpredictability I need. I begin with observation, but I'm not trying to reproduce a place photographically. I simplify. I layer washes. I allow distant hills to dissolve into one another and reduce buildings to the shapes that make them recognisable.
Colour is particularly important. I use it less to describe precisely what was in front of me than to communicate my experience of being there. I'm drawn to changing conditions—mist, snow, moonlight, dawn, evening and approaching weather—because they can make a familiar landscape suddenly reveal another personality.
My screen prints explore place through silhouette, colour and negative space. Working with a deliberately restricted palette, I simplify architecture and landscape into strong graphic forms, allowing familiar places to hover between recognition and abstraction. Light becomes a structural element, appearing in windows, reflections, skies and areas of untouched paper, while bridges, rooftops, railway lines and architectural details create rhythm and pattern.
Like my watercolours, the prints are concerned less with literal description than with the character of a place. Human figures are rare, but evidence of human presence is everywhere: in cathedrals and stations, bridges and streets, industrial structures and the landscapes people have shaped.
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Stories
Before or after painting somewhere, I often find myself investigating its stories.
Who built this? What happened here? Why did this writer come here? Why has this ruin survived? What did this landscape look like when an industry was working? Why do people travel hundreds of miles to stand in this particular place?
Those discoveries frequently become part of the work itself.
They have led to projects including From William's Words, Tales of the Dales, Places of Pilgrimage, Northern Soul and The Romance of the Railways, often bringing paintings together with writing, stories and books.
Before or after painting somewhere, I often find myself investigating its stories.
Who built this? What happened here? Why did this writer come here? Why has this ruin survived? What did this landscape look like when an industry was working? Why do people travel hundreds of miles to stand in this particular place?
Those discoveries frequently become part of the work itself.
They have led to projects including From William's Words, Tales of the Dales, Places of Pilgrimage, Northern Soul and The Romance of the Railways, often bringing paintings together with writing, stories and books.
Masham
Masham is a place on the border of things. Wensleydale comes down from the high country here and begins to open out towards the Vale of York. It is a working town with a history tangled up with medieval monasteries, law-abiding folk and lords of the manor who had an occasional habit of rebelling against their monarch. And, of course, it is famous for two things above all others: beer and sheep.
It has also been a place for makers for centuries. Artists, potters and glassmakers have all found a home here, drawn perhaps by the same landscape that continues to inspire me.
Wensleydale is a place of extraordinary beauty. Lush pastures where the cows graze for Wensleydale cheese give way to high moorland, with grouse, curlews and lapwings overhead. Limestone villages gather around ancient castles, old woollen mills and waterfalls. Whenever my ideas begin to run a little dry, a walk up the dale seems to put something back.
And that's one of the great pleasures of having Masham Gallery as the principal home for my work. The paintings stay rooted in the landscape from which so many of them grow.
Masham is a place on the border of things. Wensleydale comes down from the high country here and begins to open out towards the Vale of York. It is a working town with a history tangled up with medieval monasteries, law-abiding folk and lords of the manor who had an occasional habit of rebelling against their monarch. And, of course, it is famous for two things above all others: beer and sheep.
It has also been a place for makers for centuries. Artists, potters and glassmakers have all found a home here, drawn perhaps by the same landscape that continues to inspire me.
Wensleydale is a place of extraordinary beauty. Lush pastures where the cows graze for Wensleydale cheese give way to high moorland, with grouse, curlews and lapwings overhead. Limestone villages gather around ancient castles, old woollen mills and waterfalls. Whenever my ideas begin to run a little dry, a walk up the dale seems to put something back.
And that's one of the great pleasures of having Masham Gallery as the principal home for my work. The paintings stay rooted in the landscape from which so many of them grow.
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A Life in Art
I've painted professionally since my years as a music student in Durham. I began with oils and screen printing, later working with acrylic inks and paint before watercolour became my principal medium.
Over the years my work has been exhibited throughout Britain and published in print and book form. I have written about art and the business of being an artist, taught extensively, created online watercolour courses and worked with other artists through professional development and mentoring.
Music and writing have remained alongside painting throughout my life. I increasingly see them not as separate activities but as different ways of responding to the things that fascinate me—particularly place, memory and story.
I've painted professionally since my years as a music student in Durham. I began with oils and screen printing, later working with acrylic inks and paint before watercolour became my principal medium.
Over the years my work has been exhibited throughout Britain and published in print and book form. I have written about art and the business of being an artist, taught extensively, created online watercolour courses and worked with other artists through professional development and mentoring.
Music and writing have remained alongside painting throughout my life. I increasingly see them not as separate activities but as different ways of responding to the things that fascinate me—particularly place, memory and story.
Selected exhibitions
Selected Exhibitions
2026 — The Striding Dales, Masham Gallery, Masham
2024 — Far from the Madding Crowd, Masham Gallery, Masham
2019–2026 — Northern Soul, touring exhibition
Cannon Hall, Barnsley Museums; Masham Gallery; Ryedale Folk Museum; Farfield Mill; Sunny Bank Mills; Cambridge Contemporary Art; Beverley Treasure House, East Yorkshire Museums
2022 — The Romance of the Railways, Masham Gallery and online
2019 — Romantic Folly, Fountains Abbey Mill, North Yorkshire
2018 — Caledonia, Birch Tree Gallery, Edinburgh Festival
2015 -2017 — Places of Pilgrimage, touring exhibition
Including Southwell Minster, Stourhead, Bluestone Gallery, Masham Gallery and Cambridge Contemporary Art
2013 — Tales of the Dales, Wensley Church, North Yorkshire
Paintings and accompanying book based on stories collected from Dales communities
2010 — From William’s Words, Rydal Mount, Ambleside
Paintings inspired by the writing of William Wordsworth
2009 — Spirit of Place, Fountains Hall, Fountains Abbey
2008 — Buildings of York, Blake Gallery, York
2006 — Masham Market Place, St Mary’s Church, Masham
2002 — The Light on the Water, Pinfold Gallery, Bowness-on-Windermere
1998 — History in the Stones, Mount Grace Priory, North Yorkshire
1996 — The Ghosts of Swaledale, Swaledale Festival
1995 — Coverdale, Coverham, North Yorkshire
Selected publications
2025 — The Sparrow of Eternity
2022 — The Romance of the Railways
2019 — Northern Soul
2019 — A Life in Lyrics
2018 — When I’m 64
2017 — Moor Stories
2015 — Places of Pilgrimage
2013 — Tales of the Dales
2013 — The Penhill Giant
2011 — John Degnan: 35
2010 — From William’s Words
2010 — Journeys
2009 — Under a Northern Sky
2009 — Spirit of Place
Curriculum Vitae
Download CV
Selected Exhibitions
2026 — The Striding Dales, Masham Gallery, Masham
2024 — Far from the Madding Crowd, Masham Gallery, Masham
2019–2026 — Northern Soul, touring exhibition
Cannon Hall, Barnsley Museums; Masham Gallery; Ryedale Folk Museum; Farfield Mill; Sunny Bank Mills; Cambridge Contemporary Art; Beverley Treasure House, East Yorkshire Museums
2022 — The Romance of the Railways, Masham Gallery and online
2019 — Romantic Folly, Fountains Abbey Mill, North Yorkshire
2018 — Caledonia, Birch Tree Gallery, Edinburgh Festival
2015 -2017 — Places of Pilgrimage, touring exhibition
Including Southwell Minster, Stourhead, Bluestone Gallery, Masham Gallery and Cambridge Contemporary Art
2013 — Tales of the Dales, Wensley Church, North Yorkshire
Paintings and accompanying book based on stories collected from Dales communities
2010 — From William’s Words, Rydal Mount, Ambleside
Paintings inspired by the writing of William Wordsworth
2009 — Spirit of Place, Fountains Hall, Fountains Abbey
2008 — Buildings of York, Blake Gallery, York
2006 — Masham Market Place, St Mary’s Church, Masham
2002 — The Light on the Water, Pinfold Gallery, Bowness-on-Windermere
1998 — History in the Stones, Mount Grace Priory, North Yorkshire
1996 — The Ghosts of Swaledale, Swaledale Festival
1995 — Coverdale, Coverham, North Yorkshire
Selected publications
2025 — The Sparrow of Eternity
2022 — The Romance of the Railways
2019 — Northern Soul
2019 — A Life in Lyrics
2018 — When I’m 64
2017 — Moor Stories
2015 — Places of Pilgrimage
2013 — Tales of the Dales
2013 — The Penhill Giant
2011 — John Degnan: 35
2010 — From William’s Words
2010 — Journeys
2009 — Under a Northern Sky
2009 — Spirit of Place
Curriculum Vitae
Download CV
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Masham Gallery
The gallery, here in my home town of Masham, has been closely connected with my work for many years. It is home to the largest collection of my paintings and prints and the place where many of my exhibitions, new collections, talks and events begin. It feels entirely right that the work should live here, among the hills, rivers, villages and skies that continue to send new ideas back with me to the studio.
Visit Masham Gallery →
The gallery, here in my home town of Masham, has been closely connected with my work for many years. It is home to the largest collection of my paintings and prints and the place where many of my exhibitions, new collections, talks and events begin. It feels entirely right that the work should live here, among the hills, rivers, villages and skies that continue to send new ideas back with me to the studio.
Visit Masham Gallery →