Des was born in Dublin and as a child would draw. His early inspiration being the sea and coastal areas he was familiar with. At the age of 22 as a young RAF serviceman he spent some time in an RAF hospital where he occupied his time building airfix models of famous galleons. He soon became interested in the detailed illustrations which were on the front of the boxes and these inspired him to take up watercolour painting. Working later as a policeman in South Sheffield he painted in his spare time often snowy wintery scenes which were subsequently produced as greetings cards. The move towards more humourous images evolved naturally after studying people’s body language during many long hours on duty.

Des is now a retired ‘British Bobby’ with 22 years in the service and it can be said he is a professional observer of life!