David Ditchfield was born in Blackpool and grew up in the village of Bromsgrove in England. His father worked in a car factory and his mother was a receptionist. Growing up, David’s undiagnosed dyslexia left him struggling to read and write and he left school with only one qualification. After being sacked from his one and only ‘proper’ job, he moved to London and played guitar in various punk and pop bands. Eventually, he drifted away from playing in bands and things went on a downward spiral and he ended up surviving as a manual labourer, his life empty and directionless.

In 2006 he had a freak accident in which he was dragged under the wheels of a speeding train. As the surgeons fought to save him, he had a profound near-death experience (NDE) and journeyed to what he believes was the Afterlife. When he woke up in hospital, he had been fundamentally enhanced, acquiring astonishing new abilities which to this day, he still cannot explain.

He discovered he had acquired the ability to create dramatic and beautiful paintings of what he had seen in the Afterlife, paintings so vivid and real it was as though he had taken a HD camera with him to visually capture what most NDE'rs can only describe using words. This new-found skill went far beyond any artistic ability he had before.

Even more surprisingly, he then discovered he could compose classical music. This is all the more astonishing as David has never received any training in classical music and never composed such music before his NDE. In fact, to this day, he cannot read or write a single note of musical notation at all. His debut symphony, The Divine Light, was inspired by his NDE and premiered at a sell-out orchestral concert to a standing ovation.

Since his NDE, he has completed over 30 paintings and has been commissioned to compose further classical works, also premiered at sell-out orchestral performances. He is currently working on a new symphony entitled, I wasn’t Expecting This, and lives, paints and composes in a converted riverside mill near Cambridge, UK.

Please check out his NDE-inspired art and music in the following places:

Story
www.shineonthestory.com