Philip went to school at St. George's, Harpenden, England. There he was fortunate to have had an inspirational art teacher who set him on his way, teaching him to explore the intellectual elements in painting.

He went to art schools at St. Albans & Liverpool, where he obtained his degree, First Class Honours in Fine Art.

In 1979 Philip moved to Italy to paint full time, working on landscape, learning about light and colour. In 1997 he moved to Northern Spain to work from a different landscape. He also developed still life further, which he always considered an intense & controllable discipline.

In 2013 he sold the house & studio in Catalonia and in 2015 started to build a studio in Southern France. When in England, he works from his studio in Kent.

Artist's statement:

"Every paint-mark I put down is concerned with its effect on, and effect from, the other marks already within the canvas rectangle; I make little attempt at making these marks the building-blocks of a recognisable image, yet to my constant surprise the image appears by itself over time. Observation is the source material for the marks I put down, but I choose tone, colour, and dynamic in my observation rather than detail. This I am sure is closer to how we perceive actuality.

The magical yin-yang tension between the abstract construction of coloured marks and the image for me is one of the most important elements in painting, yet the hardest to convincingly achieve without one eclipsing the other."

Lime Tree Gallery has represented Philip since 2006. His beautiful paintings were shown in the inaugural exhibitions at Long Melford in 2006 and Bristol in 2009. The gallery has also featured his work in Art Fairs across the UK and internationally in Sweden.