Duncan started painting professionally aged 19 and had his first exhibition that year. Soon after this he gave up painting to study Architecture in London but returned to pursue his career as a full time artist a few years later and has continued to attract collectors who appreciate fine oil and watercolour paintings.

Inspired by the Newlyn School of Artists who worked in Cornwall in the last century his distinctive representational style captures texture, light and atmosphere in his landscapes and coastal scenes. He tries to evoke the same principles in his treatment of the interplay of light that those artists so successfully achieved in their paintings.

More recently he has diversified into a more fluid approach using oils on gesso board as a medium for his beach scenes to show his love of the sea with its movement, rhythms and space. Duncan has been the commissioned artist to paint the Award winning hotels of the year for the Automobile Association for the last 10 years and has also undertaken several paintings commissioned by the Services.