After a degree in history at the LSE I started out on a commercial career but soon decided to pursue my first love, art and design. I specialised professionally in architectural and interior visuals in watercolour. This gradually led me towards painting and drawing from life, to the point where I was offered a solo exhibition and gave up my design work to concentrate on a career as a reportage watercolorist, painting from life around me, out and about on the spot. But by 1995 I wanted to make a change from painting in public places. Prompted by a visit to Granada and Seville I now wanted my work to reflect a sense of history, not simply the 'here and now' of my watercolour work, and to try to evoke a sense of distance in time through which threaded not just my own memories and impressions, but the possible history of my own family. I started to research into ancient languages, motifs and symbols, architectural details - especially windows and wrought iron, - they all resonated across time to make a bridge with history. When I discovered that my name, Poll, meant "bridge" in the Farsi language, I knew I was on the right track. I found a studio, and started the journey towards a different kind of painting.