David George Deakins 1944 -

I started painting with a palette knife in oils at the age of 8. My first picture was a seascape 3.5"x2.5" which I still have.

I spent many hours observing my father ( who started painting with a knife while on convoy duty during WW2 in the Royal Navy) both at home and in his cabin aboard ship when in Portsmouth.

Following in my father's footsteps, I was educated at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, which originated in Greenwich, but was moved in 1933 to Suffolk. A school for naval officers' sons, the nautical influence left a lasting love of ships and the sea.

After obtaining an M.Sc. in Marine Biology, I have combined a career teaching Biology with painting for galleries and exhibitions. I have a close association with the Strand Gallery in Brixham and Whitby Galleries in Yorkshire.

Since retiring from teaching I have my own studio/gallery in Dunster, a pretty mediaeval village in West Somerset where my father ended up living and painting until 1981.

I now paint at home in Torbay and some weekends in the Dunster Studio. Pictures have sold all over the world from Alaska to Mexico and New Zealand, and are widely sold throughout the UK.

I enjoy painting in bright colours, both sea and landscapes, but sailing boats and harbour scenes are favourite subjects and often the rougher the sea .... the better!