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

I had been living with dialysis for three years or so, and the new kidney felt like a reprieve, a new gift of life. I felt alive again and I guess that has had an effect on my use of colour.

I felt the need to get back to painting and I thought the best way was to start drawing, so I enrolled in a life drawing class. I soon discovered that people made very interesting subjects and I am still surprised that I had never discovered it before.

You could always go on changing things but there comes a time when you have to decide to stop.

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

I used to paint landscapes without any people in them but now I paint people who happen to be in a particular place. They might be outside a pub, or on a beach or in a studio. They might have clothes on or they might not.

I tried to learn the violin for a while.