Painter, draughtsman and teacher, born in Warlingham, Surrey, the county where he settled. Smith attended Leicestershire Teacher Training College, 1976–7, gaining a fine art honours degree from Coventry School of Art, 1977–80, under Harry Weinberger, studying briefly in John Ward’s studio. He taught adult education courses in London and Sidcup, 1983–5; was adviser on painting, Florence Trust, 1990–2; won a Carroll Foundation Young Portrait Painters Award, 1993; from 1997 taught privately in his studio; and in 1999 was invited guest artist at the RP. Smith said that reading Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo “encouraged me to give myself to painting wholeheartedly, without a single backward glance”. His acknowledged masters were Bonnard, Balthus, Morandi and Donaldson.