I was born in 1961 and grew up in Paisley with my parents and two older brothers. My brothers and I were born 16 months apart, Jim, Robert and then me. We lived in Seedhill Road, next door to my gran, in a small one-bedroom flat with an outside toilet in the tenement close. When I was 4 years old, just before I started school, we moved to a council flat in Foxbar. This was luxury. Not only did it have 3 bedrooms and a massive loft space, but it had an inside toilet, a separate kitchen and a view to die for. We had a top-floor flat at the northern end of Findhorn Avenue, which gave us a side window in our living room with views right across Paisley, Glasgow Airport, the River Clyde, Kilpatrick Hills and beyond. It was here that my real love for art began.

My brothers and I were all naturally arty and I started drawing at a very young age. Art was the only subject I really enjoyed at school. I used to draw movie stars from the old Photoplay and Film Review magazines in my teens. I remember my brother Robert and I lying on our bedroom floor, with a selection of pencils and felt-tip pens between us, listening to movie soundtracks and drawing for hours.

I joined the Royal Navy at 17 and since then my art took a back seat as work and life in general took over. I recently returned to it, after over 30 years, and have rediscovered my passion for it. I started using different mediums, trying acrylics and watercolour for the first time and I’m loving it. I’m a self-taught artist and am learning more and more every time I put a pencil, brush or stick of charcoal in my hand.