ARTISTS TALKING

As I could not afford a model I worked from painstakingly constructed set-ups: bottles, cartons, model soldiers, discarded machinery, toilet rolls. Intimate objects though they were, I next began to work from drawings which took me outside the studio and it was then that I began to appreciate what a wealth of visual stimuli exists, literally, on my own doorstep.

I have always been fascinated by the environment in which I live, and being a born and bred Londoner – I also lived and worked in New York for six months – urban themes tend to dominate my work. Yet I am not trying to illustrate simply what is in front of me at a given moment in time, or to create virtual reality, but to construct a dialogue in paint across a flat surface. I want my paintings to speak for themselves as images, not solely representations of the subject from which they derive.

I am totally involved in interpretation and whilst working from the abstract to the figurative may appear, on this basis, to be a contradiction, it means I am constantly endeavouring to distance myself from the subject matter. I also consider it is important to acknowledge where my paintings exist in contemporary art; my inspiration from other artists continues to develop and change with my work.

I am determined to continue painting full time and occasionally, to earn some money, I work as an artist in schools. This can be stimulating, rewarding and demoralising in turns, and it highlights how much creative talent may never materialise or, if it does, can rapidly become disillusioned. As a painter I feel akin to a professional gambler except I lose far more than I ever win! Yet the highs, when they occur, compensate hugely for the hours and days I often spend trying to resolve a painting, either physically on the canvas or in my own mind.