My work is about reality, what I see, what I feel, what touches me, what catches my eye. Sometimes that can be about big events in the real world, or a face in a crowd, a mountain, cherries in a bowl, a bunch of flowers, actors in a show who are already several times removed from reality. Reality is not the same as realism. My work is not about imitation but rather a response to objects, things, my space in the world through painting and drawing. A painting is after all a painting. I do not feel I should explain my work – it should speak for itself. Art has no need of theory. I know what I am going to paint or say, but once I get started I work vigorously and the work has a life of its own. Decisions about colour or how to do something happen intuitively on the way. Sometimes, going back to the studio after I have finished a painting I find myself thinking ‘Did I do that?’