Other people's songs can inspire me, though - I always have music on when I'm painting.

A lot of my words come to me when I'm out and about as well, riding the bus or sat in the pub. I went through a stage of going to a strip bar called the White Horse at lunch times and did a lot of writing in there. They were fine with that but I don't know how they would feel about me setting up the easel.

I like to listen to a lot of classical music when I'm painting, the most simplistic stuff I can find. I like simple piano.

To make music I rely on other people, which is good - that's the main difference in painting and music at this stage. They are separate parts of my life really, like having two jobs, one in a bar, one in a lighthouse.

Sometimes I just want to sit and write at a clean table and not get paint all over my hands.

I don't really need to be inspired by literature though. At the end of the day it's colour and imagery moved around until it works.

Painting can be like poetry but as somebody who creates both I feel the necessity for both so they cant be that similar. Sometimes I think it's as basic as not wanting to get dirty.