April 2018 saw Mark take part and complete the Virgin Money London Marathon in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK. With the support of Wishbone Publishing he created an original piece of art entitled ‘A Picture Of Hope’, inspired by Beatrix Potter's beautiful tales of Peter Rabbit.
After being exclusively revealed at his solo show at Images in Frames gallery in Wanstead the original artwork sold for £3495 with the full amount going to the charity! Mark is proudly pictured above with his father Michael and mother Anne-Marie.
'My father has been restricted for the past several years by Primary Progressive Aphasia and has been immense in dealing with it. Ultimately there is no bigger challenge that I could do than the Marathon, no better cause to run for and no better charity to fundraise for.
For those who follow my work will know there is a constant, the battle between darkness and light, despair and hope - this was never a pre-planned direction to build a brand around but one that I realised was forming without intention, formed from my own personal battles and the contrasting mindset that I found myself in at the time of creating a new piece of art. A piece would start out with the intention of being completely dark or the opposite yet as my mindset would change quickly throughout the duration of the piece there would be opposing details injected that I started to accept being a window into my state of mind where I struggled to keep staring at the sun without allowing the shadows to grow taller behind me. Creating this particular piece had to be exactly what it is entitled ‘A Picture Of Hope’, to force myself to keep my eyes on the sun in the hope that I won't see the shadows that will undoubtedly always be there. Looking at the finished piece I am incredibly proud that I have managed to do just that and my hopes are that it will offer some rays of light and hope to others for many reasons.