Born and raised in Sheffield, Richard has spent most of his life walking and painting The Peak District. From an early age, his passion for walking developed by spending his childhood caravanning with his parents, and as a teenager all his pocket money went on art materials, starting with pencils crayons and moving onto watercolours and pastels. Time spent in summer holidays and at Christmas with his uncle and aunt at Upper Booth Farm below Kinder Scout helped him appreciate the beauty of the wild Dark Peak of Derbyshire. This intimacy shines through in his powerful, emotional paintings and has brought Richard great success since becoming a full-time artist in 1998. Moving to Tuscany in 2006 brought him in contact with another very diferent landscape - a hot climate and no stones walls! Richard is equally happy in both painting environments and exhibits works of Tuscany, Venice and Northern England side by side.

One of the most important aspects of Richard’s work is his use of vibrant colour even though he is colour-blind. “People always seem fascinated about my being colour-blind” says Richard. “I have tried to analyse why I paint with strong colour and I believe it is because I cannot see subtle colours like most people, and I feel like I am missing out so I want to create my own world of colour in my paintings. I believe my colour disability is an asset and certainly most people collect my work because of my colourful interpretation of the landscape. It cheers them up on a dull winter’s day!”