I have developed my own approach to surrealism by connecting to my subconscious and tuning into colour, movement and emotions. The natural world fills me with wonder and I link my emotions with current events and how I’m feeling in the moment. By not being overly influenced by any particular artist, I believe my work remains fresh and original.  I take great pride in my work being unique.  The influence of other artists does inspire a desire for perfection and the development of strong technical abilities.  This is essential to the process of creating convincing images from seemingly irreconcilable elements.  I enjoy experimenting with ideas in watercolour, pencil and ink.  My favoured medium remains oil paint.

I am not an academic.  I retrieve events I have encountered, and my imagination converts them into images.  For example, a recent painting entitled He Ain’t Heavy was inspired by seeing a cloud just above a thin tree branch.  The cloud became an elephant.  The title emerged while the painting was being made -no doubt a memory of the 1967 Hollies song.  This song was originally inspired by an earlier story, when a priest with the children’s charity, Boys Town, noticed how some boys were carrying a boy with polio up and down stairs.  When he asked one of the boys if he minded, he replied: He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.  These words perfectly imply the feeling in the painting.

I am aware my imagination is quirky and vivid, my mind quickly bounces from subject-to-subject. I see this as a distinct advantage - a potential source of inspiration.  I hope these paintings share and illuminate what it’s like to be in my head.

It’s fun to have this different outlook and I celebrate these quirks and differences - showing them in my work, home and personality.