Peter was born in Beaminster, Dorset in 1923. He attended the West of England College of Art and now lives and works in Southampton.

He is technically very proficient (his works has been used to illustrate painting techniques in several books) and he employs his skills in progressive experimentation of media and imagery. The variety of his subject matter is remarkable, generally falling into sets of work which follow the investigations of specific themes, recently including military uniform, friezes, animals and landscape. Throughout Peter reveals a particular sensibility to colour balance and design. He can often be seen to fragment the image, occasionally deliberately dividing the page into zones into which he places elements to infer relationships and communicate ideas. Although the majority of his work is watercolour in the traditional sense he is not afraid to introduce collage and other media.

He was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1969, became a council member in 1971 and Vice President in 1989. He is also a council member of the Royal West of England Academy. He has had exhibitions all over the United Kingdom and in New York, having established American connections after being awarded the Goldsmith's travelling scholarship to explore the US in 1963. His work can be found in many private and institutions' collections all over the world.