Ian was born in 1957 in Blackpool. At the age of 21, he set off across Europe for many months, recording his travels in watercolour. He developed a strong association with Mediterranean subjects, which was to influence his work many years later. He lived in Sicily, and Germany for 25 years, returning to Poole, Dorset in 2008. He has shown his paintings at the Royal Academy in London, as well as the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and the Royal Society of Marine Artists. His work has been accepted twice for the prestigious Lynn-Painter-Stainers Prize at the Mall Galleries. In 2016 he won the Artist Of The Year award in London.
His work hangs in many private and public collections worldwide.