Two events in my childhood shaped my future as a painter although I didn't know it at the time. But then you don't when your seven.

I was fortunate to be taken to visit an old magnificent bit of history on the north east coast of Scotland. It's a remote haunting place hidden away down a dark tree lined road which, when you get to the end of, there's an unexpected surprise: an ancient Bavarian looking castle perched on stone. Tall and foreboding with a towering keep, spires and turrets that have defied and withstood our notorious Scottish weather since the thirteenth century, the castle hovers over the North Sea as an old grand fortification creating an atmosphere all of its own.
I'd never seen anything like Dunrobin Castle.

Once inside, I wandered small through the labyrinth of stone corridors, staircases and rooms, wide eyed and literally floored by these tall people who seemed to be ten times the size of me. Who were they and how did they get there? I wanted to know. Staring back at me these larger than life paintings of historic figures, each life like portrait with their own story to tell, hung wall to wall throughout the castles seemingly endless maze of nooks and crannies, and they all seemed to meet my curious eye.
Met with a riot of art and colour, the likes of which I'd never seen, I was overcome with those beautiful hues, vibrant faces, brilliant clothes and no idea how these incredible huge paintings had been created. It was up to me to find out how.
What I took away from the castle that day has stayed with me ever since.

Around the same time, I met my new teacher at Grangemouth Primary School, Mrs Cook. She said grown up words to me that would influence me for the rest of my life.

Giving me watercolour paints and unlimited access to the schools art supplies was one of the first things she did. The second thing she did was to to say, “do what you want,” giving me free rein to create.
I ended up painting a series of murals of American Indians on horseback and given the huge wall spaces in that wonderful old Victorian school, she thought it was a good idea to fill the schools common areas with these feather haired mysterious beings riding black, brown and white pinto horses.
Mrs Cook took me aside one day in class and asked me to promise her something. I couldn't possibly imagine what it was but she whispered some words into my ear.
Her inspirational words cast a kind of everlasting spell that never left me. She was a great teacher who had foresight in making a seven year old make a promise.

I never forgot Mrs Cook, she was incredibly inspiring and instilled a belief in me that I could do something with my imagination. Her words were always there nudging me a little step further every time.

It was many years before I finally went to Telford College in Edinburgh to study art and design working in every medium that was available to me but I always came back to paint. Paint is the most versatile medium I've ever found to work with. It can have the consistency of water, paste or impasto and has so many different applications. I think I would need several lifetimes to discover everything this fantastic medium can do, it is literally endless.

What I learned from the moment I picked up a paintbrush again all those years later, was that I really was a painter, just like Mrs Cook had told me all those years before.

And I did keep my promise to her.