Derek Gardner

For much of his life, Derek Gardner has been connected with the sea and ships. In the war years he initially worked on the trawlers and then on the destroyers in the Atlantic, Arctic and Mediterranean. When the time came for him to leave the Navy at the end of 1946 and return to civilian life, he was granted the War Service rank of Commander RNVR.

After the war, Derek joined the Colonial Service as a Chartered Civil Engineer and was in Kenya for sixteen years. During these years he developed his enthusiasm for painting, he taught himself to use watercolours, oils and pastels, which he exhibited with the Kenya Art Society in Nairobi.

He retired from the Colonial Service in 1963 and returned to England to become a full time painter.