After leaving the Byam Shaw in 1980 with a distinction in drawing (The Graham Hamilton award) Justin Hawkes trained as a painting conservator with a pupil of Helmut Ruhmann

As well as the conservation studio Justin has maintained several studios for his own work developing a style that derives from the study of colourfield painting. He has taken a particular interest in classical watercolour techniques.

Justin says, "Titles can be a vexed issue for painters, particularly so if you are not being directly descriptive of one given place. Peter Nolan (Judge Institute) often discourages me from giving paintings titles. he mentions that numbers are used to catalogue compositions by Beethoven and Mozart. Nevertheless I find titles appropriate when I feel confident there is a link with ideas and attitudes the painting may be revealing."

Currently his studio is in Cambridgshire.