The painting I chose as my starting point for this project is one by Howard Hodgkin, titled Bedtime 1999-2001, oil on wood. I was initially attracted by the sheer sensual richness of the paint and had no doubt about my choice although I knew it would be a difficult act to follow. The elements of the Hodgkin painting that I admired were its colour, exuberance of mark and contrast to the rest of the collection which seemed so dark. It was so direct inviting me to take it or leave it and I fell for it. When I was a student in the 80's Hodgkin (in books) was an influence on my developing painting career which progressed to working collaboratively with a group for twenty years. We performed with musicians and had several exhibitions during the time I was involved. Recently in North Wales I concentrated on working directly from the landscape. Returning to an intuitive way of working informed by memory and place was an opportunity presented by my choice of the Hodgkin painting. I knew from previous experience that this would be a most challenging and difficult area, but one of the more personal truthful paths to originality.

A lot of thought and reading was my initial process. I considered the application of paint, choosing to work with large brushes, and purchased some top quality Michael Harding paints, which I'd never used before (too expensive). I thought of the framing device Hodgkin uses and decided not to use that, although it was a relevant part of his paintings, particularly when seeing them as memories. I didn't want to fall into the trap of producing poor pastiches of the master. Also I was not limited by size working on smaller canvases first, then when it felt right, on whatever size was to hand. I also besides the books, canvas and paints bought a large quantity of liquin, a quick drying medium. The process I used was to first work on small canvases from memory of recent visits to new places. When I was away I was all senses alert to capture in my mind the essence of the place, and then try and conjure it up in paint when I returned. It was difficult at first and pedestrian as, of course, the abstract did not magically appear, however the threshold was crossed eventually and I was able to free myself to paint the later canvases, which was both a frightening and exhilarating experience. The whole project has been a welcome opportunity to re-visit a way of working that is the most truthful and difficult and original exposure of my personal vision in the vicinity of the wonderful Howard Hodgkin.