Ray Drake

Painter · Musician · Designer

Art has always been at the centre of my life — even when it wore a different shape. I hold a BA (Hons) in Art, a foundation that sharpened not just my technical eye but my sense of what it means to look carefully at the world. That habit of careful looking has never left me.

For many years my creative energy flowed through music. I played in several bands, living the particular discipline of making something together in real time — listening, responding, finding a space within a shared sound. That background has a way of seeping into my visual work: an instinct for rhythm, for when something is working and when it isn't.

I later brought that creative sensibility to a music studio working with children — a role that demanded not just knowledge but patience, encouragement, and the ability to meet someone where they are. More recently I've worked in graphic design, spending my days thinking about form, colour, and communication at a professional level.

The paintings came quietly, in the hours left over — and they've grown into something I'm genuinely proud of. My current series takes Northumberland's birds as its subject: robins, blackbirds, waders, and the small brown birds that most people walk past without a second glance. Each piece is a small act of attention. I paint what I see, with the care of someone who has spent a lifetime learning how to see it.

The prints in this shop are produced from those originals, offered in a range of sizes and finishes so that the work can find a proper home.