Roger qualified as an architect in 1984, joining one of the country’s leading architectural practices, ADP, direct from his training at Manchester University. Promoted to partner in 1990, he has been Chairman for several years, taking particular responsibility for design quality, branding, public relations and marketing. These interests complement his enthusiasm for freehand conceptual sketches and the use of colour in his architectural renderings.
He began to paint as a hobby soon after qualifying as an architect. Self-taught, Roger turned to books by John Blockley and others to nurture his interest in watercolour and black ink drawings.
Holidays in Pembrokeshire provoked Roger’s enthusiasm for building forms which seemingly grow out of the landscape; his early paintings of organic shapes and moody skies are reminiscent of local artist John Knapp Fisher.
More recently, the dynamism of David Tress’ paintings, and the use of collage and acrylic by Mike Bernard, have helped to transform his approach to texture, colour, and abstraction.
Inspired also by David Gentleman’s books, Roger approached Bloomsbury Publishing with a proposal for a compendium of watercolours with commentaries, and this was published in 1995 as Buildings of Britain. More recent work has been inspired by visits to Delhi, Venice, and Florence, combined with preparation of paintings for a recent talk on architecture to the Sevenoaks Society, in his home town.
Roger’s architectural drawings have featured at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, and he has also exhibited paintings at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Somerset House, The Shard and Central St Martin’s. His work has featured in other galleries and exhibitions, and is now in private collections across the world. His work has been auctioned for charity.
He has recently returned to writing and painting books: “Buildings of London” (published March 2016, Artifice) will be followed later in 2017 by “Buildings of New York”.