I have had two interests to pursue since childhood. I have always been interested in growing plants as I needed to be outdoors in all seasons, but then in winter I still needed something to keep me active. So painting was my perfect winter hobby. I took a career in horticulture as my day job, then painting was my main interest in evenings.

My love of growing plants was so strong that even with a big garden, I still needed more land so getting an allotment was always essential. However while looking after my allotment growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, the artist eyes were always finding interesting places that would make the perfect allotment painting. It was the untidy corner full of pots, boxes, pallets, wheelbarrows, ramshackle sheds and broken fences. So it started with my neighbor, Arthur’s plot in summer, then lets try it as a winter landscape painting, and before long where ever I went there was a perfect image needing to be captured on canvas. I have now completed nearly 30 allotment paintings, most of which are now sold, but I still have a few in the artist studio. See below and more information on my website at https://johnstoa.com/landscape-paintings-1