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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The spirit of a painting is very hard to explain and articulate. I can't say it's not intentional because that is the mark I'm trying to hit, however I don't feel I have much control over it.

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