I remember Francis Bacon would say that he felt he was giving art what he thought it previously lacked. With me, it's what Yeats called the fascination with what's difficult. I'm only trying to do what I can't do.

I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them.

I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness.

Everything is autobiographical and everything is a portrait.

It is the only point of getting up every morning: to paint, to make something good, to make something even better than before, not to give up, to compete, to be ambitious.

The paintings that really excite me have an erotic element or side to them irrespective of subject matter

My work is purely autobiographical... It is about myself and my surroundings.