Matthew Phinn was born in Yorkshire and studied Fine Art at the University of Leeds and the University of California. He went on to spend six years as an artist in residence in Japan and Bermuda. He is an elected member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. Matthew has won the Bath Prize, the Buxton Spa Art Prize and received the Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award, the Matt Bruce Memorial Award and the Neil Meacher Award with the RI
In 2019 he was elected as a senior member of the Japanese Watercolour Society, with which he exhibits annually.
Matthew now divides his time between London, Yorkshire and Hiroshima, Japan.