Simon’s ‘As Cunning As A Fox’ paintings are inspired by and champion exploring the countryside and woodlands around us. The changing seasons, interesting buildings, wildlife, favourite locations around Cold Ash and Bucklebury and old farm machinery are illustrated in Simon’s unique heavily textured acrylic painting style.

Simon walks in the beautiful West Berkshire countryside everyday with Hazel, his four year old daughter. These walks, the slower pace of being with a small child, and with Hazel asking questions about the environment around us have led Simon to learn and notice much more about the countryside and wildlife in it. This new found knowledge and closer observation has fed into Simon’s most recent paintings which are more detailed and full of woodland character than ever.

Each ‘As Cunning As A Fox’ painting starts off with a sketch or several to refine the design. Simon takes reference photos to help jog the memory and to refer to for colours and light, but prefers mainly to draw from ‘mental snapshots’ of a suitable location and reimagine the scene. Then the final paintings are built up with layers of paper and board, texture is then added with an acrylic medium, before underpainting and lastly painting take place. Heavy body acrylics are used to add further texture to the finished piece.

Simon is always looking to improve and add to his skills and has recently been practising his film making to help promote his work to a wider audience. Simon’s paintings are available as prints, framed in his studio and as cushions (a surprise best seller!) hand made here in West Berkshire.

As well as painting, Simon runs an illustration studio, Armadillo Images, specialising in humorous illustration, caricature and hand drawn animation.