I grew up in South Wales and it was here that I first started to paint in oils. At 13 I finished my first piece and I was hooked. It became a permanent fixture in my formative years and the Art Room became my second home. AT 15 Slade School of Art became interested in me and it was here that I would later apply after my Foundation at Cardiff School of Art.

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I did eventually drop out of Art School, with my own immaturity and the disinclination of tutors there to actually let me paint that ended, albeit temporarily, my love affair with oils. I turned to photography in London before heading back to Wales to work at the Royal Mint and as a publican.

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I was pulled from a house fire in the mid 80's and this close call gave me an added appreciation of life and it seemed to increase my already highly ignited senses.

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After several years at The Swan Hotel in Thaxted, and several more years of uncertainty, I moved to Bristol, where I became a partially third rate actor, before moving to Australia - making first Adelaide and then Brisbane my permanent home.

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After a stint in Marketing at Cutting Edge Post I worked as a Graphics Consultant in the Construction Industry where I ran my own Commercial Graphics design and installation business. It was during this time that my love for travel and food also took off. I make much of my own food basics from sausages and bacon to bread and butter, and it was from my extensive travels in Europe that I launched my alter ego Old School Traveller, where I wrote slightly comedic travel and food blogs for my own website and as a professional Copywriter.

However, after an incredibly painful and debilitating back injury, I had to give up my business and staring into the spectre of late middle age and a busted back, I turned once again to painting. 

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I launched Roger Clarke Art in 2018, and now, as I write this, nearly 4 years later, I have established my self in the Brisbane Art community and have sold close to 100 works globally, judged at the Royal Queensland Art Society Member's Annual, held several Solo Exhibitions, become a Lethbridge Finalist 2 years in succession, have my own studio in Teneriffe and a permanent exhibition at the New Farm Antique Centre. 

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There are many stories to be told and many more to come, but the journey to this point has been long and arduous, and not always easy, but to finally be here and successful in my one true vocation is proving to be delight and one that doffs it's hat to maturity and my ardent love for the medium of Oils.

The arrival of Roger Clarke Art was due, in no small measure, to the happiness I found with, and the support of, my wife Kati. 

Everything is for her.