The themes of Sam’s work are taken from everyday surroundings life and places, which mostly manifest through the people and architecture of Newcastle.

More recently Sam has been inspired by archival scenes of working life. He works mainly in oil paint and realism is Sam’s main driving force, but while maintaining this, he feels as though it is very important to create mood and atmosphere through the work. Sam will layer, scrape and wipe areas of paintings to create areas of abstraction and realism.