1. You are well traveled. How have the different cultures you have been exposed to influenced your artistic style?

I am wondering what my artistic style is! Having lived all over the world and having no feeling of really belonging anywhere, but at the same time belonging everywhere allows me a sense of freedom with no cultural rules or identities. I think the influence has been more on personality that reflects in my artistic style, rather than direct artistic influence. Although I know I have freely dipped my toe in here and there taking what ever has passionately inspired me. The freedom of decoration that you see everywhere in Pakistan, Afghanistan etc. where all the buses and trucks are painted like butterflies flying through the desert and mountains. The sense of magic and mystery from the stories of my childhood in Andalucia. The awareness of colour from my very early years in Mombasa. The Punk Era and theatre of the New Romantics in London whilst I was at college at St. Martin's. The metropolis and graffitied walls and trains of New York in the early 80’s. An immediate thing though that comes to mind, is , I feel very lucky as a western figurative artist to have experienced showing in the East where figurative art has not suffered as much as in the west. To have that support has allowed me to continue being lost in my world.

2. Can you explain the floral designs on the faces of many of the people you paint? Is there any significance to them or are they just for design?

Uhmmmm. I really try and paint with no thought, painting intuitively. I have no idea why I have started painting designs on the faces. When I paint the faces I am caught up with looking at colour not form. It’s the colour and the brush stroke that create the form. When the face appears maybe there is an element of me that then wants to take control. Who knows, but for me the faces become something else when the markings start to move across their surface . An element of magic comes in. It also anchors all the brush strokes in a weird kind of way. There is probably some psychological reason of which I am thoroughly unaware.

3. The settings for your paintings are very interesting. Almost all of your subjects are painted in the kitchen, bedroom, or living room and are generally in a corner or up against a wall. Is there any reason for this?

Another question I feel a psychologist could answer better than I ! I have never thought about it. I know I hardly ever paint people outside. And if I paint landscapes they never have people in them. In my olive tree paintings the tree becomes the subject in the same way the person is the subject. I just get caught up in the energy of the subject and the brush stroke. There is an intimacy, within which I can get lost and from this point pattern and colour can explode.

4. We noticed there is a lot of food in your work. Do you enjoy cooking? If so, do you find similarities between cooking and painting?

I love food. I love the pleasure a taste can give you . I get the same sensation from colour. I taste colour. A painting for me is a cornucopia of colour or melding of colours, harmonies of colour. Quite delicious. I also find food very happy. Some foods just make me smile like prawns and lobsters. Their form and colour. Fish make me feel free. A beautiful dish can inspire the perfect taste sensation. I have always felt that cooking was like painting. You taste, you sense what is missing. You add a flavour. It’s a blending, looking for as near as perfection as you are able. For me the same senses are used as when painting. Food equates happiness and painting equates happiness

5. How often do you exhibit your work?

Generally once a year. When I feel I have enough paintings for a show.

6. Are there any artists who have influenced your style?

I don’t think there are any artists who have influenced my style but there are artists who have influenced me. Paulo Rego, for getting lost in her strong figurative world. Basquiat, in my early years for his directness. Ron Meuck for the spirit he breathes into his amazing creations. Pierro de la Francesca and Paulo Ucello for perfection and beauty. Peter Doig who I was at St.Martin’s with, for his magic with paint. Giotto for his naive genius. Rothko for his scale and magnificence. Diego Rivera for his narrative and power. Alma-Tadema for his sensitivity.

7. Do you see your paintings as narrative? In other words, are you telling stories through your paintings?

I am not telling stories, the paintings are. And, I believe, a different story to each person who looks at them. I could never tell you what is going on. I really don’t know. Again a psychiatrist might help.

8. Do you interact much with other artists in your area?

No I don’t really. I have always painted in a solitary manner. Lost in my own world. Quite reclusive in a way where my painting is concerned. It helps that my studio is in the desert, fairly isolated. Just my family, some snakes, scorpions, olive trees, dog and cat. But I am connected by the internet, and from my studio I can go out to the world. I make frequent trips to London, Madrid, Barcelona for a cultural injection which is extremely important.

9. The world would be better if...

Every person had freedom of choice. The choice to eat, drink, learn, speak, love, be loved. That each person could come into his or her full creative potential in which ever way that manifested. There would be no hunger or pain, no anger or jealousy. There would be no fear as everyone would be living from their heart and life and the world would reflect that. We would take care of each other,all living beings, animals, plants, the earth and the universe.

10. If I had special powers they would be...

To swim through the universe, talk to the animals and plants. Breathe in the oceans. Create magic in every heart so that all eyes sparkle with joy. Wipe away the ugliness that creates so much pain on this planet.

11. I'm addicted to...

Colour, potato crisps, lettuce, mulberries, the scent of orange blossom, being in water.

12. When I have a creative block I…

Go mad, completely loopy, get angry, pace a lot, accept it, stop fighting it, finally surrender, completely forget about painting, let go, do something entirely different, trusting when the time is right, it will flow again.

13. Growing up I…

I don't think I have. I would like to grow young