Matthew Phinn was born in Yorkshire and studied Fine Art at the University of Leeds and the University of California. He spent six years as an artist in residence in Japan and Bermuda.

He is a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, the Royal Society of Marine Artists, and the Japanese Watercolour Society.

Matthew has won the Bath Prize and the Buxton Spa Art Prize, and he has received the Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award, the Matt Bruce Memorial Award, and the Neil Meacher Award from the RI.

He exhibits regularly and teaches art workshops in the UK and Japan, dividing his time between London, Yorkshire, and Hiroshima.