I use myself to find out about the funny and surprising, the awkwardness and ambivalence of looking and moving differently. I look at the hidden parts, which cannot be seen by the outside gaze. I work the 'space' of a canvas with its defined boundaries where marks and colour can carry my expression as in 'Still Finding a way out'. I now sometimes add in objects to the painting, props and metaphors of life as in 'Front to Back'.

The other side of my work looks outwards to a world of landscapes and townscapes, depicting the surface memories of life, perhaps with some nostalgia, as if we see the world not as it is - but through our projections and hopes. The colour beguiles the viewer maybe offering escape or the huge romance with life as in 'Gorgeous Day' and 'So Much Blue'.

My work may touch and use the everyday awkwardnesses, seen and unseen, happy or sad. How the world's gaze perceives us, and how our gaze can look outwards.

I would identify with artists like Matisse, Derain and Charmy but also have a huge passion for Rothko and Pollock. These artists could be said to be concerned with the purity of the aesthetic language, an autonomous art. But I would extend my list to artists like Boltanski, Baselitz, Warhol, Hatoum and Ayres to name but a few."