INSPIRATION
"Ideas approach artists in mysterious ways. They never seem to arrive on time or in the place we look for them. But we need to look, and we need to arrive on time just in case one turns up.
When I hear something on the grapevine which gets a narrative going, I find a scene within it and let it grow. As a result, much of my work is based on hearsay, via friends, films, concert, poems, adventures, something I stumbled upon on the street, or an inner vibration which needs to turn into something living. Perhaps my work is a form of painted gossip.
There are special influences, such as jazz, which I have always loved. When I listen to the great pianist, Herbie Hancock, for example, the chords changes set certain colours off in me; the melody affects my lines; the mood or message helps structure the composition and subject.
My deepest passions, though, stem from the possibilities offered up by the Natural World. At a time when life for many species of plants and animals hangs in the balance, I feel impelled to celebrate its existence and to question the relationship we have with it.
When I work, there is always an initial struggle to work out exactly what I want to say and how to say it. But there are those rare times when, once in a blue moon, a complete painting quietly appears in my head, fully detailed, with no apparent logic or meaning. This hardly ever happens, but when it does, I copy it down immediately!"
