John graduated from Newcastle Art School in 1980 with Postgraduate Honours in Painting. He also has a Signwriters Journeyman Certificate from Newcastle Technical College.

His love of the natural environment, the coast and the beach has been the focus of his work for almost 40 years.

He had his first solo exhibition in 1981 and over 30 solo exhibitions since then, in Newcastle, Sydney and Melbourne, including ‘Panoramic Vision’, 2004, a Survey Exhibition at Newcastle Regional Art Gallery. His work has been exhibited in numerous national and international group exhibitions and six times in the Wynne Prize (for landscape painting) at the Art Gallery of NSW.

He has won many awards for his paintings and his work is in many public and private collections throughout Australia and overseas.