A New Zealander by birth, Garrick was a city child who wished he'd been a country kid. Consequently he left school to work on farms and sheep stations. It was here, in the smoko rooms and shearing sheds that his drawing ability first raised eyebrows, and he returned to the city to test his suspected talent in commercial art studios.

For ten years he climbed the advertising ladder before deciding he could best combine his love of art and the rural environment by becoming a landscape painter. Since 1972 he has been a full time professional painter and in 1988 decided to add the string of political cartooning to his bow.

When time allows he takes respite from the easel at the piano or on the golf course.