Artist Alan is always brushing with the rich and famous

With the aristocracy and celebrities queuing up for his work his list of famous sitters includes Robert Palmer, Sir Edward Heath, and Dame Thora Hird - so it comes as something of a surprise to find out that his very first models were sheep.

The artist and TV celebrity who commands thousands for his portraits developed his drawing skills when he lived on a remote North Yorkshire farm as a child.

"When I lived on the farm it was miles away from anyone and I didn't have anyone to play with. I was like Billy No-mates," he laughed.

"I used to spend hours drawing the sheep and trees - purely because I didn't have anything else to do."

But his isolation paid dividends in the end - leading to a glittering career in television with the highly successful shows Painting the Stars, Blooming Art and Painting the Past.

Alan studied art against the advice of his parents who warned that there wasn't a living to be made out of painting.

But now with a beautiful detached house at Apperley Bridge - once frequented by Charlotte Bronte - and another home in Majorca with Andrew Lloyd Webber as a neighbour, it is clear that painting was not such a bad career choice.

Alan, now 54, studied at Scarborough college of art - alongside fellow student and close friend Robert Palmer - before going on to gain a first class honours degree in Fine Arts from Birmingham College of Art.

Clearly immensely talented he is the first to admit that an element of luck is central to the careers of all successful artists.

He happened to be in the right place at the right time - teaching at Birmingham - when a BBC producer came looking for a researcher for a new arts programme.

When one of the possible celebrity presenters was unable to turn up for his audition, Alan was encouraged to have a go - and the rest, as they say, is history.

The young artist found himself catapulted onto the small screen interviewing painters, dancers and rock stars.

"To call it a steep learning curve would be an understatement because I ended up doing a live TV show when I had never even done any reporting or anything, " he said.

"I remember seeing some tapes a couple of years ago - and I just looked like a rabbit in the headlights."

But his TV career was launched and he was soon interviewing the likes of David Bailey, Sophia Loren and Dustin Hoffman.

He has gone on to paint a long list of famous people - including Lord Harewood, Jilly Cooper, Lord Healey, Richard Whiteley Barbara Dickson, Rick Wakeman and a whole host of Coronation Street stars.

But he knows it could have been a very different story if he had not had a few lucky breaks.

"Van Gogh worked his whole life and was completely and totally passionate about his art - but he only sold one painting in his whole life," he said.

"Now just one painting of his might sell for around £70m."

"It is to do with whether or not you get recognition - like Picasso, for instance, who was picked up by a rich patron and given exposure."

He added: "David Hockney was around at the time Pop Art was emerging. He died his hair white and he wore pink glasses and outrageous clothes - and he became a massive presence in London.

"His paintings now sell for millions - but he could just as easily have been very good and still be working away in Bradford," he said. "That's not to say he is not incredibly talented, because clearly he is."

Alan, who teamed up with Hockney for one particular project, says the Bradford artist remains his favourite interviewee.

"Just to meet him was a great honour but to actually spend days working with him was fantastic."

Alan says neither he nor Hockney have much truck with modern conceptual art and he added: "It is like the emperors clothes - they are taking people for a ride.

"I don't think it is as valuable as people say - for something to be worth a quarter of a million pounds which is just an animal cut in half is quite bizarre."

Alan seems devoid of the showbusiness airs and graces you might expect from a TV personality. He seems happy with his level of fame - enjoying the recognition without the hassles which plague big stars.

He likes nothing better than a Sunday walk in Ilkley followed by a snack at Betty's.

"I go to Betty's every Sunday morning before lunch," he said.

"I did a programme in Ilkley and I get loads of letters from there," he said. "A lot of people stop me and say how much they enjoyed the programme."

"I have known people who are celebrities and get very upset and rude to people - but if you have chosen to put yourself in the spotlight you have to be prepared to accept it."

He revealed that he is considering moving to Ilkley - possibly opening a studio in the town.

"I am very impressed with Ilkley," he said. "It has an enormous amount of character and it is such a lovely place."

Alan's conversation is inevitably peppered with famous names. Some, such as Kay Mellor and Jilly Cooper, have become firm friends and his face lights up when he talks about them.

But a hint of sadness is apparent when he talks about one of his oldest friends, Robert Palmer.

The pair met when they were students and then lost touch for a while. But at the height of his fame the internationally acclaimed rock star asked Alan to design the cover for his 1994 album Honey.

"It really was nice of him to give me that opportunity," he said. "My friendship with him when I was younger was very close and then he went off and became a big rock star."

"At college everyone called him Mouth Palmer because he loved to sing all the time - he had a remarkable voice."

He said they had renewed their friendship when Palmer, whose real name was also Alan, had asked him to work on the album cover.

"Having got to know him again after a gap it was really traumatic when I heard that he had died," he said.

The album cover, which includes a portrait of Palmer, is featured in Alan's first foray into books.

Celebrity Portraits combines practical tips with a selection of anecdotes about some of the people he has painted.

From Lord Healey who told him "just get the eyebrows right, lad, and you've got me", to Jilly Cooper who almost wept with happiness when she saw the finished product, the book provides a fascinating insight into the world of the artist whilst giving detailed advice to the would-be portrait painter.

One of the most important tips, according to Alan, is to put the subject at their ease and to look for their inner character.

"Ninety per cent of the time it is to do with what is going on with their eyes," he said.

His passion for art shines through in his introduction in which he says: "Seeing portraits painted hundreds of years ago always fills me with awe. It makes me aware of my own mortality and I feel like a child looking into the vast, star-spangled night sky, feeling very small and insignificant."