Maurice Raymond Sheppard was born in Llangwm, Pembrokeshire in 1947. He studied at Loughborough College of Art, Kingston College of Art and the Royal College of Art. He was President of the Royal Watercolour Society from 1984 to 1987, serving also as a Trustee from 1983 to 1995, retiring to Honorary Retired member in 2002. He is a member of the New English Art Club, to which he was elected in 2000. Sheppard's work has been collected by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, the Beecroft Museum and Art Gallery, Southend on Sea and the National Museum of Wales.