Sometimes a painting happens very quickly and is very clear and pure. Others take much more work and have longer and more complicated journeys to their completion. Another way of looking at them is that they have many lives, several incarnations. These other lives lie underneath the finished painting, layers sometimes partially visible and integrated into the new work.

Most painters would agree that we often don't know where a painting is going. The process of creation is mysterious with a life and direction of its own. Driven towards perfection, I sometimes work a painting too much and destroy its delicate balance. When this happens I have no other choice but to drive forward into new territory, to take risks, to destroy what was cherished, in the hope that something new might be born from the destruction.

When people look at a finished work they would be surprised to know how many stories lie underneath. These stories are part of the paintings journey. Destruction is a necessary part of creation.