I was born in West Ham, London in 1968. When I was 6, my family moved to a little village in the middle of the Kent countryside called Higham. This was a bit of a culture shock, but I learned to appreciate the beauty of both natural and man-made environments.

I was always drawing and painting as a child. In the early eighties, I became interested in graffiti art, which fuelled my passion for painting on a large scale. This passion continued when I went to art college, where I produced huge canvases and public displays.

After graduating, I worked as an illustrator for an advertising agency in Hammersmith. I produced work for a variety of clients, such as Toyota/Lexus and MTV. However, I missed painting large works.

At this time, I married Tracy and we had our first child. I painted my son's nursery with colourful pictures from our favourite storybooks. When my friends saw it, they loved it so much that they wanted me to paint their children's rooms as well. At the time, there was no one else doing this as a full-time profession, so I saw a business opportunity. I gave up my commute to London and started Marvellous Murals.

After 25 years of running Marvellous Murals from a studio in Kent, Dean and Tracy moved to Wales, where they bought a zoo. Tracy runs the zoo, while Dean continues to paint murals. On days when he isn't painting murals, he can be found helping to create wonderful enclosures at their sanctuary for wild animals rescued from the exotic pet trade called The Animalarium, in Borth.