In his early twenties a discussion with Maurice Wilks, a family friend, persuaded Alan Bradshaw to turn his artistic talents towards architecture –“get professional letters after your name young man, the life of a full time artist is far from clever”. Given this advice, Bradshaw qualified as an architect from the Architectural Association, London. Throughout his busy professional career he never lost sight of his first love – painting. In 1992, he exhibited his work in the McGilloway Gallery, Derry, with immediate and dramatic results. During the next two years he firmly established himself and the steady increase in demand for his work led him to taking early retirement in June 1995 so that he could devote all his time and energy t...