Born in Waterford in 1955 Peter showed a precocious early talent and had his first exhibition in the racing centre of Lambourn at the tender age of fourteen. Sell out exhibitions in Dublin followed and it wasn't long before he came to the attention of Aylmer Tryon, founder of the Tryon Gallery and the renowned horse portraitist Susan Crawford. They advised him to go to Florence where he spent two years studying in the studio of Signorina Simi.

This classical training stood him in good stead as he has always placed the utmost importance in sound draughtsmanship. It was to this end that he spent a short but invaluable time with the sculptor John Skeaping R.A. Skeaping impressed on the young artist the value of economy of line and the ultimate goal of depicting movement, balance and a solidity of form without lumbering the work with too much detail.