Mike works on a relatively small scale as he prefers the intimate to the grandiose. His subject matter consists of suburbia, its houses and gardens –the everyday and the overlooked. If he ventures into landscape it is that of parkland or farmland. Although primarily a figurative painter Mike is keenly aware of formal structures: “Sometimes these take on a life of their own as for example when the garage door brightly coloured becomes a small piece of abstraction. Obviously with figurative painting the viewer will have the simple pleasure of recognition but as an artist one would want the viewer to take something more away with them."