ABOUT THE ZINE

Between 6 And 16 Miles is a way of letting go of my ideas for paintings, writing and drawing. As you can probably tell, I haven’t had an art lesson or an English lesson since I was 12 or 13 – I went straight to work as an apprentice engineer after school – but I feel like there are things I can add to both areas, even if it’s odd, self-taught or anachronistic.

You’ll find the art I want to release on the front page and the writing buried throughout the remaining pages. All of the drawings and paintings are small run and printed at a high quality local printers here in Sheffield. The stock they use is gallery standard cotton stock and will last for over 100 years under glass. If something you like has sold out (or you want a different size to the one listed), message me and I’ll get another one printed for you: however it may take a week to 10 days for you to get your print.

There’s a page dedicated to published writing, which you can find here. I’ve included scans where I can and text on the page where I can too. Not everyone lets me publish my work here after its been published elsewhere so its a limited selection. However, its all work I’m proud of and the scans should include the art and illustration that I made to go with the text.

Much of my work comes from being outdoors in the landscape and the elements, and by trying to channel some of my subconscious into what I’ve seen and felt there. Sometimes what comes through me is accurate and sometimes its surreal and often its a combination and not really either. For the pencil drawings I use mechanical pencils, an eraser and Bristol board. For the bright, coloured paintings I usually use Clip Studio Paint – and most of that work is done with the mapping pen or sometimes with the oil painting brush (I don’t tend to mix the brushes in a single work at all: I only use the one). Occasionally I’ll use ink and water or watercolour.

I like being self-taught because its a life-long, ongoing process and I’m free to choose what I want to look into or include. I usually describe the stranger side of my work as “surreal nature art” or just “surreal art” but I don’t really know if that’s accurate. It seems so to me, but I haven’t been to an art class to tell me otherwise. Perhaps just “nature art” is better.

You probably won’t read these people’s style in my own writing or in my painting but they’ve all influenced my output in some way: Jorge Luis Borges, JG Ballard, Nan Shepherd, Algernon Blackwood, Edwin A Abbott, Virginia Woolf, Ian Miller, Doug Johnson, Stanisław Szukalski, Peter Doig, Rebecca Solnit, Deleuze and Guattari, Marshall McLuhan, Alan Sillitoe, Tom Robbins, Kodwo Eshun, Brian O’Nolan, Ernest Hemingway and a whole host of other artists that I can’t think of right now and it seems silly to list them.

A lot of the art and writing on this site comes from the Peak District and running in it, all year round. I live in Sheffield so the Peak is on my doorstep and I’m often out running and hiking there, taking part in fell races and exploring the dales, woodlands and hills. Read a bit more about me here.

I don’t use AI.