In Madrid he studied Bosch and after a period as a teacher he took a degree at London's prestigious Goldsmith's College. At London University he worked with the Educational Television Research Unit and later, sponsored by an American film producer, spent a year painting in Scicily.
In the small, picturesque town of Militello Rosmarin he built a purpose designed studio.
Travelling between Scicily and England he was a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Manchester Polytechnic and became elected as a member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1981 Lancastria Television produced "Il Nostro John Picking" ("Our John Picking") a documentary on his life and work in Sicily for British Television's Channel Four.
In the same year his adopted town, Militello Rosmarino, granted him Honorary Citizenship, an honour he was proud to receive, although he remarked ruefully that henceforth he was no longer a "VIP guest".
In 1990 John set up a second studio in at Clusane, on Lake Iseo Italy.
Since then he has moved his studio to nearby Corte Franca, painted in W 15th Street, New York, and held an exhibition at the Monique Goldstrom Gallery on Broadway.
John's last visit to Edinburgh was in 2006 when he visited the 'Little Sparta' poet and sculptor Ian Hamilton Finlay shortly before his death on 27 March.
John has set up a website with several galleries showing his paintings from 1955 to the present.
In 2010 Arteselezione made a video (in Italian) and Part One can be seen on YouTube.
