Podcast: Play in new window | Download (30.7MB)

I have known Frank since we were at art college together. He went to Stoke to study Fine Art and I went to Leeds to study Furniture Design and then Fine Art.  We have travelled to Germany together to work in the summer vacations in the Becks Bier Brewery in Bremen. We both had German girlfriends at the same time. Loads of funny stories to tell since 1980 to the point where the families have grown up and he is living in Wales and I am in Spain.

I have always been impressed with Franks’ dedication to his painting and his art. I went off in the direction of using art for a sign business while Frank kept at his painting. When making the visit to his house a few times over the years his house would always be full of paintings. When he came with his family to Ireland to visit me he would spend much of the time walking with a box of paints under his arm. I have some of those paintings still.

Frank has been featured on Welsh television, and has had numerous exhibitions of his work. Seeing as his family is all into art he has had a family exhibition when his wife and two young daughters exhibited paintings too. I love the paintings by Esme also. The family  sold some of their work alongside Franks’ sales.

This interview was recorded here in Spain just after a drawing session in my living room. They were taking it in turns to be the model, my son Jack included, who is also at art college. It is all a family thing. I put the sound clips from the interview on top of of some video I shot on a trip to to make some drawings of the local landscape.