John was born in Surrey and initially trained as an architect before deciding to become a full-time professional artist. He has lived and painted in Suffolk since 1977 and held many solo exhibitions since 1978.

John lived in Yoxford, renting the property known as Stanhope, in the High Street next to Cottons Yard, from January 1982 until October 1985. There is an outbuilding at the rear, shared with Cottons. The house,
along with Milestone House, Cottons Yard and Rose Cottage, were apparently built together in 1840. Stanhope has been owned by the Blois family of Cockfield Hall for many years and in John’s time it was rented to him by Rodney Blois, son of Sir Gervaise Ralph Edmond Blois.

The name Stanhope comes from a type of carriage, the Stanhope Gig, one of several English carriages named after its designer, sportsman the Hon. Fitzroy Stanhope.

Painting c1815-30 (Wikipedia)

Mostly painting out of doors, John has travelled extensively in pursuit of warm weather. He used the bedroom at Stanhope to store his work.

Stanhope had an almost entirely blank wall facing Cottons Yard and a lot of external plumbing.
Consequently John decided to paint a trompe l’oeuil, hoping to achieve a balanced composition to disguise the lack of attractive original features.

Stanhope in the 1980s