I’m not easily distrac … ooh, SHINY thing …

About Me

Who am I?  Good question …

As you have probably already worked out, my name is Adrian. I was born and brought up in County Durham in north-east England and now live out at the far western end of Dumfries and Galloway in south-west Scotland, working alongside my wife as a web developer in our business Glendrian Creative.

I’ve had a rich and varied working life. To spare you all the boring details, the career summary so far includes jobs at two different UK universities (one as a research associate, one as a lecturer); being a software development and support engineer; being a systems designer/architect and hi-tech consultant; being a technical author and editor; and, finally, spending around fifteen years working alongside my wonderful wife running our own art and craft businesses.

Throughout all of that I have also found time for my own creative pursuits. I love music and have played keyboards and sung lead and backing vocals in a couple of bands over the years.  I also play a bit of guitar.  Alongside that, I enjoy photography and all things literary – I’m a voracious reader and also do a little writing of my own. Since moving to Scotland a few years ago, I have had the good fortune to spend a little more time working on the creative side of my life, both as a freelance photographer and author.

However, for the last twenty years or more, I have still felt that I was missing something.  Much as I love music and writing and taking photographs, these things just weren’t pushing the right creative buttons for me.  I now know what the missing link was – metal! 

In 2018, we moved into a house that used to belong to the local blacksmith and the old forge was still there – unused for maybe twenty years and in a pretty poor state of repair, but it inspired me to attend a couple of workshops and try my hand at blacksmithing for the first time. And so, at the ripe old age of 50-something, I began a new creative journey.

This blog is a random collection of my thoughts, my work, my ideas, the things I find interesting, my journey through life, perhaps even a little of my heart and soul. 

Welcome.