“The urge to keep painting is still a mystery to me, even after more than three decades. I readily enthuse over making music and writing - but as for painting, all I can say is – I’m just driven. There's something essential that just cannot be contained, and absolutely requires expression - visual expression. Maybe it has to do with where I live - in the ancient land of Cornwall, southwest England, a land shrouded in mystery and magic, whose obscure origins are lost in legend.
I've never wished to depict, or even allude to any of those mythological Celtic giants, ancient Phoenician travellers, or the legendary King Arthur and company. Rather, for me – it’s always been the land - just the land, and me. In itself this mystery is enough.
“I and the land are One” becomes to me more than a statement from mythology, more than a pleasant abstract idea. My drive strives to echo: “See this truth - see the energy of this hallowed land, as depicted in the simple flow of paint - and know yourself a little more. Because in the end that's all there is – the pure bright energy of Existence.”
When asked about goals: I've always thought I had none. ‘Go with the flow, and see where it takes me’ has been sufficient. But if I were to have goals, I think I'd refer to a client who, in 2007 drove 40 miles just to meet me - and tell me how every day she sees something different in a painting of mine she owns – and frequently loses herself in it. To lose oneself is also to find one self, I believe. So if anything, my goal would be:
That some small how, by means of my paintings, as many as possible might lose themselves - only to find themselves anew, in some measure changed, more alive; somehow more radiant.”
