"There are a number of factors that have influenced my work.

My art is very personal and I feel that I am laying my emotions bare on the canvas.

I have lived in a number of different countries, which has had an effect on my work, sometimes not always immediately apparent to me. For example one viewer observed that in a certain painting I was using African colours, without even realising that I had spent seven years in Nigeria. Until that moment I had been unconscious of this.

Words have always been important to me. I have always read widely. Over the years I have compiled a personal note book in which I write down quotations about life and art that appeal to me When I begin a painting I start by choosing a meaningful quotation and write it all over the canvas. Sometimes it is still visible at the end of the painting, though not always legible. Sometimes you can see parts of it. Sometimes by the end of the painting it is no longer visible at all. I liken this to the things we read. Some things we remember clearly- others not so well. Others we have no direct recollection of, but they are still there in the back of our mind, overlaid by many other things, but still possibly having an influence.

Colour is another important element in my work. I have a tendency to go wild with colour, so for each painting I restrict the colours that I allow myself to give myself a structure.

Words, colour and my life experiences combine to produce a painting."