I tried to learn the violin for a while.

I have to experiment with methods and I'm trying to find an authentic way of making an equivalent of the living, breathing person within the limits of a single picture.

I've had to do all kinds of jobs to pay the rent. I've even worked in a Cornish tin mine.

Painting is seen as picture making, the making of an art object, something that can stand on its own.

As a kid I quite fancied the romantic, Bohemian idea of being an artist. I expect I thought I could escape from the difficulties of maths and spelling. Maybe I thought I would avoid the judgement of the establishment.

I tried to learn the violin for a while.

I think most people see drawing as subservient to the subject, a sort of meditation, a studying, a searching observation, in my case, for its own sake.