I often think of paintings in a series, envisaging them together, related to each other. This has resulted in paintings that explore various themes – castellers, markets, street paintings, a Place to Live, paintings in inverse colour, fruit and vegetables. Underlying them is often a quite specific visual experience. The idea for the Stacks and Wrap-ups, for example, came to me when I saw stacks and piles of wrapped-up produce in a wholesale market in San Juan, Argentina, that evoked for me a large sculptural installation. That’s when I first envisaged making a set of large paintings, which would be dominated by these impressive and mysterious objects. Then I started looking out for stacks and wrap-ups in street stalls and markets after they close in places I visited in different parts of the world. I now have a set of source images that I am slowly working through and adding to as a basis for these paintings. 

There have been some key moments in the development of my painting. Going back to when I was at school in the North of England, my art teacher gave me some oil paints and encouraged me to go out and paint the landscape. In my early years, that’s how I learnt to paint. Then I turned to making free improvisatory figure paintings often on themes related to family dynamics. Then, I did an MA European Fine Art in Barcelona, where I was inspired by seeing the custom of Castellers or human towers. For the first time I turned to a book of photographs of the Castellers, to supplement my drawings and imagination as source for making paintings. Before that I had been wedded to imagination and observation and had never used photos as source material. When I came to London in 1999, inspired by the multicultural street life in the neighbourhood where I lived, I began taking snapshot photos that provided me with a whole new subject matter in painting contemporary urban life.   

I had the idea for making paintings in inverse colour years before I actually made the pictures. I noted in my sketchbook thoughts about the gap in painting between beauty of the surface of the picture and our habitual capacity to “see into” the painting and enter it in our imaginations. Could these things be pulled apart? The catalyst in this case for making the paintings was the Brexit referendum. I was in a meeting in Brussels on the day of the referendum where a German MEP was speaking inspiringly about the role and importance of culture and the arts at the heart of European identity. Then came the results of the vote that night. Returning to the UK in a state of disillusion and shock the next day, I decided to go straight to the studio and make the first painting in inverse colour. Birling Gap, 26 June 2016 unites my family history and political history in a view of England’s iconic white cliffs, dramatically inversed in colour. Later, the pandemic lockdown had the effect on me that I couldn’t bring myself to paint pictures of busy street life when the streets were empty. In this case, I was thinking of paintings by artists such as Sean Scully or Geraldine Swayne, that were on aluminium, and this seemed to me a suitable physical format for the experience I wanted to create in re-mixing new versions of my previous street paintings in inverse colour.

I am guided fundamentally by trying to be authentic to my memories, feelings and visual experience. Now that I primarily work from photographs, this guides me in finding what I want to paint and how I want to paint it. The photograph is a jumping off point towards recovering my memories and sensations. Making a painting leads me back to experiences I have had in the world. At the same time, a painting is an autonomous being with a life of its own. I try to watch it carefully, and see what it needs. I try to keep open to the unexpected. I have a slightly irrational belief that the paint itself will naturally communicate something more suggestive, complex and evocative than anything my will and control will achieve. As I have got older, perhaps I have learnt how to co-operate better with what the painting wants.

What is your definition of artistic success?

I have held two solo exhibitions this year showcasing different aspects of my practice. The first, Colour Revolution at Norwich Crypt Gallery, gave an opportunity to see together a series of paintings I have made in inverse colour. The exhibition followed on a talk I gave initially to Leeds Philosophical & Literary Society and then to Norfolk Contemporary Art Society titled What colour is that? – a painter’s notes on the perplexities of colour.

The second exhibition, Paintings of London in the characterful 18^th century  Town House Spitalfields brought together a selection of small scale paintings of everyday street life in the neighbourhoods I have lived in in the city. It also included paintings from my series, A Place to Live of houses in London, inspired by the estate agent property ads in newspapers. This exhibition coincided with an interview with me by London art critic Tabish Khan in Londonist: Urban Palette where I talked about why London has inspired me to paint over 20 years. Four new small paintings made this summer have been selected for the ING Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries in November.

In addition to making new paintings for these exhibitions, I have completed more large canvases for my Stacks and Wrap-ups series, drawing upon trips to Morocco, Yucatan and Paris. One of these, Blue Wrap-up (Yucatan), was selected for a beautiful exhibition, Wells Art Contemporary in Wells Cathedral, which I was very proud to be part of. A second painting from the series, Study for Green Wrap-up (Paris), is being shown in an exhibition, Chlorophilia curated by artist David Leapman at Durdon & Ray in Los Angeles in January 2026. And the icing on the cake for this year has been that another of the Wrap-ups series, Carnes y Embutidos (Valencia) won me Best International Artist 2025 for the VAA Artist of the Year Awards.

For 2026, I have two solo exhibitions lined up. In Autumn, I am showing a selection of the Stacks and Wrap-up series at the University of Murcia in Spain, where my proposal was unanimously agreed by the selection committee. I am planning to make some new paintings for this exhibition. In May, I will also be showing at the South Quay Gallery, Great Yarmouth, I am excited about having both of these exhibitions to work towards this year.

The Stacks and Wrap-up series of paintings are the most ambitious set of paintings I have made. I love making big paintings. These are on a large scale and have a powerful enigmatic presence on the wall. They fascinate me because they can be seen from so many perspectives. On one level they are straightforward depictions of these objects I have seen in the world – wrapped-up stacks of goods and shuttered market stalls. But then they have this aura of being sculptural objects, placed plain centre dominating the canvas, which evoke references to various modern aesthetics that condition how we experience and valorise what we see. Some of them also animate large areas of strong colour, which gives them a material abstract quality and contributes to the strong physical presence of the pictures. And then, they are an international series, based on locations on four continents. Each painting evokes the atmosphere of a specific place in different parts of the world. They take the viewer to these places. They are pictures a viewer can inhabit and be in. Then, also, I cannot be unaware of how they relate to larger economic and political issues over the period I have been making them. The global pandemic that shut down markets, the impact of wars, tariffs, and in my own country, of Brexit, on trade. This set of pictures bring so much together for me.

What are the biggest obstacles you’ve faced when improving your arts profession? What’s the one piece of advice that has helped you the most? 

My award-winning series of paintings of Stacks and Wrap-ups now consists of 20 large canvases, with more planned. Individual paintings from the series have been exhibited, but the series as a whole has not been seen together and I am convinced this group of paintings seen together in a suitable spacious environment, would make a powerful impact. I am seeking an opportunity for an exhibition to give these works visibility and exposure. Several of the paintings, including “Carnes y Embutidos (Valencia)”, which won the Best International Artist” award, are currently in Dresden,  Germany, so I am open to offers to exhibit them in central Europe.

I was completely thrilled and overjoyed to be named Best International Artist in the VAA Artist of the Year Awards 2025. I have entered for many prizes and awards, and like all artists I have learnt to deal with the rejections. My way of managing my expectations has been by never expecting to actually win! So it was really sweet when the prize was announced. The painting that won was also shortlisted and exhibited in the BBA Artist Prize in Berlin last year and it was then featured again when I was one of just five artists from that show in a follow up exhibition at BBA Gallery curated by Mario Bermel. All this has given a welcome validation and confidence.

Part of the prize is a year’s membership of VAA, which includes access to guides and professional resources including professional liability insurance, all of which I am looking forward to benefitting from.

Is there anything you would like to say to the artist you were a year ago?