Here’s a rewritten version of your statement for clarity and flow:

I was born in 1961 and grew up in Paisley with my parents and two older brothers, Jim and Robert. We were born just 16 months apart, so we were very close as kids. We lived in a one-bedroom flat on Seedhill Road next door to my gran, with an outside toilet in the tenement close. When I was four, just before starting school, we moved to a council flat in Foxbar. It felt lik...

Here’s a rewritten version of your statement with a more fluid and engaging flow, while preserving the sentiment:

I guess you could say my brothers and I were born with a creative streak—our dad was naturally artistic, so it must run in the family.

From the moment I could hold a pencil, I started drawing. I would sketch movie stars from old Photoplay and Film Review magazines, and copy the dynamic comic art of Frank Frazetta and Boris Val...

Here’s a refined version of your statement that retains its personal feel while improving flow and readability:

I joined the Royal Navy at 17, and then life and work took over, causing art to take a back seat. Over the years, I occasionally painted portraits—Kate Bush and Olivia Newton-John for some shipmates—and a couple of murals, but for more than 30 years, I never really got back into it. It wasn’t until the COVID lockdown, when I inj...