Andrew trained in painting at the Ruskin School in Oxford, graduating in 1982, and later studied History of Art at Edinburgh University, being awarded a PhD in 2017 for his thesis on late antique portraits and early Christian icons.

He currently lectures in History of Art at the Centre for Open Learning, Edinburgh University, and also gives exhibition tours to groups from the University of the Third Age.   He taught the Art History component of LSA’s Foundation Course from 2008 to 2022.

Now based in Aberfeldy, he is pursuing two different kinds of painting in parallel:  on the one hand, he has learnt the traditional techniques of Christian icon-painting in egg tempera and is exploring ways of developing aspects of this tradition in a more personal direction;  on the other hand, he also makes abstract paintings composed of vertical stripes, using remembered colours from the natural environment, in which the painting process is linked to the rhythm of respiration.   These two kinds of painting are rooted in his life-long interest in prayer and meditation, and the workshops he teaches at Leith offer an opportunity for students to explore these connections for themselves.