About The Artist

Julian was born in Oxfordshire, in the Thames valley, that separates the rolling hills of the Berkshire downs from the Cotswolds. From an early age he showed an above average artistic and athletic ability. These two attributes would influence the course of his life. His passion was, and still is, cycling. Barely in to his teens, he would set off on long forays in to the beautiful local countryside from his home near Oxford. This passion eventually led to competing in road races, where he excelled. Deciding that the only way to find out if he had the ability to become a professional cyclist, he moved to Brittany in France. Despite not making the grade to become a full time professional, he did succeed in making a decent living as an amateur. Feeling wander lust, and having stopped competitive racing at the age of 28, he spent the following 11 years travelling. Having always cycled, it seemed natural to him that the best way to travel was on a bicycle. He would work 5-6 months of the year, so as to finance his travels to such far flung places as the Rocky mountains of America, and Alaska. He has always been drawn towards the remote, wild and rugged landscapes that have not been touched by the hands of man. It was during his years of travelling that he started to sketch and paint. What you might call a natural instinct to put on paper the scenes that he saw. On returning home after a 6 month, 12,000 mile, cycling tour to Alaska, he decided to try and make a living as a professional Artist. Being an unknown artist, it was unlikely that he would be able to make a living from solely painting pictures and selling them, unless he was prepared to promote himself. This was when the idea of setting up a greeting card business first came to mind. For the following 10 years he painted wildlife pictures of animals and scenes, which he used to turn into greeting cards. This business was so successful that he built up a client base of 400 outlets. The public loved his work, which in turn brought him numerous commissions. His work became so popular that it was difficult for him to find time to paint commissions and run the greeting card business. In 1999, Julian found a small property in the Correze region of south west France, where he now lives. He briefly continued to run his greeting card business from his French home, but he is now able to make a living painting full time. He is affiliated to the “Maison des Artistes” in Paris.