I work as I walk, not knowing what I might find: Sight is touching at a distance, Painting is a love affair with a surface: Art is how a nation defines itself.

I was trained in front of an easel behind which was a portrait, a nude or a landscape; I hated still life. I was to become a portrait painter. Alas! due to a growing interest in painting the marks of time the sitters dried up. Too many had to be told that they would grow into the image. As a lecturer, I needed a focus for my painting muscles a couple of hours each day. Ironically, the focus became still life.