Michael studied librarianship in Manchester and realised early on he didn't want to be a librarian. Life-drawing cheered him up. Later he did a degree in Fine Art and studied portrait-painting at Lavender Hill Studios and drawing and painting with the New English Art Club.

In 2015 he won the Le Clerc Fowle Medal for a group of outstanding paintings at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters’ annual exhibition, and the Winsor & Newton Award for a painting at the New English Art Club annual exhibition.

He is represented by GrandyArt in London.

He has taught oil painting for five years, with the New School of Art in Brighton, the Colour Factory in Winchester, and the Mill Studio in Arundel.

'I paint from life in natural light. I like the domestic setting. Simple objects you can hold in your hand. I move the things round. I like there to be some tension. How do I know the tension? I know it when I see it.'