Mike Oldfield is a business man and entrepeneur who took up painting as a way to escape the pressures of business - and discovered a whole new world.

Creativity comes easily to Mike. A furniture designer for more than 40 years, he also has a passion for music, drumming in particular.

Mike lives with his wife Jill in a quiet, leafy suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, where he divides his time between his furniture business, entrepreneurial activities and his creative pursuits.

His studio is cheerfully crowded with canvases of his past creations, his latest work on a sturdy, paint splattered easel and shelves of paints, brushes and other supplies close at hand.

He is modest about his work and finds true delight in the enjoyment his art brings to others.

Spending an evening in his company can mean an energetic conversation about business one minute, and then a pause; followed by a quiet, unpretentious comment on the colouring, light and shadow that make an element of the surroundings truly beautiful.