Whilst growing up, Terry spent much of his childhood at Huia and later the big surf beaches of West Coast Auckland.
He finds the grand scale, shapes and endless colour shifts of the West Coast beaches fascinating and derives great joy in trying to capture the often moody spiritual atmosphere he sees in them. Terrry was taught by Garth Tapper and spent two years at Elam Extension, worked with Ted Dutch from 1961 on, also painted with and was mentored by Mike Yoffe and Jan Nigro.
His work is in private collections and galleries in France, the UK, The United States, Canada, New Caledonia and New Zealand.