If I have to be honest my career choice was based on a desire for freedom rather than a means to convey valuable ideas or express some deep feelings. As a child I spent a lot of time in the wild and it represented an independence of thought and freedom of movement that I cherished. As ‘the boy who can draw’ I also sensed a separateness from my peers and adults that was at once disconcerting and appealing. As an adult it translated into: either you work (in the corporate sense) or you paint. A difficult path but not a difficult choice.

My biggest early influence was the French painter Raoul Dufy. His paintings have a vitality that to me is the visual arts equivalent of perpetual motion. The energy he painted with was transferred rather than expended in the process. The energy is still there – the paintings are “radio-active”. Art made by young children sometimes has this same quality and can be equally captivating and energising.

My own rationale, with this in mind, would probably be to make art that in style and content, hopefully has some of that same positive charge.