Mark Preston was born in Derby in 1976. He is the younger member of a well-known artistic family. Mark studied illustration at Anglia University in Cambridge, but it was sketching and painting trips with his father, Rex Preston, to the Peak District, Cornwall and Scotland that really inspired him to become a landscape painter.

Mark Preston has been painting full time as a professional artist since leaving university at the age of 21. He paints in acrylics and works mainly in situ, with relatively little time spent in the studio. He is in his element when working out on location. Frank Ruhrmund, Art Critic, The Cornishman says: “ Mark Preston's paintings possesses an air of authenticity and are steeped in reality. It is clear to see he is a plein-air artist”

Mark Preston says: “For me experiencing the landscape and weather directly is essential to attempt to capture them in paint; I just need to be there to respond to the situation and the spirit of the landscape.”

Derbyshire and the Penwith area of Cornwall are the main areas which feature in Mark's paintings. The way that the changing seasons and weather affect these places fascinates him. Although interested in discovering new places, Mark often prefers to get to know somewhere intimately, finding the more familiar he gets with an area, the more he sees in it.

In addition to Red Rag British Art Gallery Mark Preston art work has been exhibited at other leading British Art Galleries. Each painting at Red Rag is sourced from the Mark Preston artist studio and like all Red Rag British art and Contemporary art it can be shipped worldwide.