Peter Kotka was born in February 1951 of an English mother and Estonian father. He started his working life as a toolmaker, and designer of aluminum extrusion dies, and began to paint in 1979. Entirely self-taught, he turned professional in 1983.

Peter has an absolute love of oil painting and especially admires the masters of Dutch Painting of the 17th century, which is reflected in his own work. Since 1995, after seeing the work of Estonian artist Olav Maran, a modern painter who worked in a traditional style, Peter decided to review his own work, and started researching "Still Life" painters such as Willem Kalf and David De Heem.

After experimenting with priming his own panels and canvases with different co...