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.

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.

I sometimes use music as way of getting back to a certain time, dredging up stuff from the past and putting it down on canvas.

Painting is a solitary act for me; I don't need anyone around to make paintings.

Some of my work is very instinctive, some of my favourite things I've ever done are just two minute sketches, nothing is better when you get it like that so quick, then other work takes months.

If you can see a world within a portrait I would be happy with that. I don't want to tell the story with a painting, though. I'm trying to get away from the story- from the beginning and the ending.

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.