About the Artist

Mark and his wife Sally now live in the picturesque highland village of Tongue on the North West coast of Sutherland in Scotland, after living for 28 years in a remote shepherds cottage on the shores of Loch Hope (10miles west).

Having met each other at Medway College of Art in Kent, Mark and Sally came north in 1974 (in a beat up old 1958 Ford Prefect).

Although Mark has regularly painted and exhibited his own work throughout this time, and has his paintings in private and public collections throughout Europe and the States, he is probably chiefly known in the UK as a book Illustrator (www.stableart.com) and is represented by the agency Artist Partners in London.  He has illustrated Hundreds of books, for authors such as Kingsley Amis, Beryl Bainbridge, Sue Townsend, Philip Pulman and of course not forgetting the Bard himself...Shakespeare.

In the early days when asked where he lived, he always enjoyed answering `In Hope`...it not only described accurately their location, but as their little cottage had no electricity (for the first 10 years) and the eldest of their 3 children had just been born, it was also a philosophical statement of optimism, (a prerequisite for any artist).

It was during this time in the summer of 1975 that Mark worked his first summer as a pony boy (ghillie) during the stalking season...He still manages to continue this activity from early August when the Stags are in velvet and the days are long, to the Hind season in December, when the hill is wild and covered in snow.  Over the years he has drawn and photographed all aspects of the stalking year...this he uses as reference for his paintings.

Because of his first hand experience his reputation amongst collectors is rapidly growing, his paintings are not romantically sentimental like much deer stalking art (painted often inaccurately by artist who know little about the lifestyle) but depicts an arduous, remote way of life for man and beast alike.

He say`s " I have yet to meet a stalker that hasn`t got a deep respect for the deer he culls, and the land he works.....Like hill shepherds, they are a breed apart. "