Alan’s first foray into art was in the 1980s when he sought to escape the pressure of a stressful job. Rather than taking a half-day to play golf, he took classes in oil painting over a period of 6 years. This led to a third prize in the Christchurch Star Annual Art Exhibition in the mid 1980s and a working membership of the Canterbury Society of Arts for a short time.

He found cleaning of brushes and palette an annoying and time-wasting chore that ate into creative time, so tried some pencil drawing, taking inspiration from one of his painting tutors, Owen Lee. This lasted a very short time owing to family, community, and work commitments, but after a period of years, the pencils were rediscovered, and a further handful of drawings resulted.

In 2002, having escaped the corporate rat race, Alan purchased a small art gallery and picture framing business, studied the profession of framing and passed the Guild-Commended Framer exams of the Fine Art Trade Guild, London, holding membership for some years until being involved in the establishment of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Framers, serving terms as Vice President and President. For 10 years he plied the framing trade, working on a wide range of jobs from children’s art, certificates and awards including medals, original art, and object framing, through to conservation, and museum-grade work, before retiring following the Canterbury earthquakes.

The cycle of picking up the pencils and completing a handful of drawings after years marked by lack of creativity repeated a couple of times before Alan took up membership in the Rangiora Art Society early in 2025. Involvement in the weekly artists’ workshops led to the first sustained output of drawings, which remains limited owing to commitments in other areas. Favoured subjects include old buildings and vehicles because of the history which they evidence in their decayed or ruined state.