Why did you become a painter?
I remember the day I wanted to be a painter, I was 10, at school in a paint-
ing class. The teacher demonstrated how to paint a sky by wetting a piece
of paper and then running a brush loaded with blue paint across the top of
the paper; as the blue paint ran down the paper, it diluted eventually be-
coming white thus creating a realistic sky. It was magic and I was hooked.
What makes you angry & why?
Being misunderstood. I get compared to Hopper often which I don’t mind;
it’s a great compliment and valid, but a lot of my paintings are a hundred
miles away from his, yet people say of paintings that bear no resemblance
to his, “it’s like a Hopper”. For example, I painted an odalisque referencing
19th century Orientalist painting, it was a nude lying on the other side of
the pool and looking at the viewer. The pose was taken from an Ingres
painting, and it’s my favorite pose in art history. Even though my painting
is a 20th century painting that is clearly referencing the 19th century, I read
online that it is just like a Hopper, go figure .
What’s your biggest fear & how you deal
with it?
Not being able to paint, so I paint
What do you think about love?
I’m for it.
Do you think that weaknesses are the direc-
tion of success? Why?
I don’t understand your question, but if you mean
that insecurities affect the way that you think, then
sure. We are all driven by our insecurities.
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