Painter and teacher, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, married to the artist Valerie Jordan. The experience of landscape at distinct points in time was central to his work. Between 1962–8, Olsen did a foundation course at West of England College of Art, Bristol, and gained his fine art painting diploma, graduated with honours, obtained his art teacher’s diploma with distinction and undertook a postgraduate scholarship in painting from Newport and Cardiff Colleges of Art and the Academy of Fine Art, Munich, Germany. Awards included a Bavarian Government Scholarship in Painting, 1967; Southern Arts Purchase Award, 1984; fine art prize, National Eisteddfod of Wales, 1992; and an Abbey Award in Painting, British School at Rome, 1999. After lecturing at NOTC School of Art, Banbury, 1972–8, and Oxford Polytechnic, 1978–9, Olsen joined Oxford Brookes University in 1987, eventually becoming senior lecturer in fine art.