The work I chose to re-take / re-invent was by the Venitian painter Francesco Guardi. “A Young Girl of the Gradenigo Family with a Dove” c.1768–1770.

As I walked through the galleries of the National Museum in Cardiff I noticed a painting that I hadn't seen before. It was hung quite high on the wall and pictures an innocent looking girl, who has a bird tethered by a long red ribbon, giving the sense that, although it can fly, it doesn't have freedom; a concept she appears unaware of. . I was attracted to it as many times I have made work relating to the idea of "tether". I wanted to reflect on a painting that would open up some sort of narrative, and dialogue, with me.

I began to deconstruct the work, to look at the compositional devices and elements which I found interesting. The most fascinating thing I noticed was the ribbon. I like how it dissects the work, and how, being scarlet, it leads your eye through, what is both a very simple work and also a complex piece of theatre. I have always admired the filmography of Alfred Hitchcock and one of the methods he uses, in The Birds and Psycho, is to use the intensity of Technicolor red as a link between scenes. I like the way the painting has a certain kind of space in it, like characters on a stage, framed by the trees on either side. I continued to redraw the subject matter and develop it so that it reflected my own work and style. I was interested in developing this concept of one character being controlled by another, innocent appearing, character. I'm interested in how relationships can be explored in my work and how things can be viewed at face value, but can also have other undercurrents. I became interested in the other elements of the work; The small "toy" pet. A small dog, a companion, but again, a creature that relies on the subject of the work, the girl, for its existence. In the background there is a horse and one, or possibly two, people near a triumphant arch. There's another bird, a partner, free in the branches of a tree and perhaps most interesting of all a small shipwreck by the edge of a pool. These elements fascinated me. After working, primarily in digital format (I use an iPad as a kind of virtual studio space), I moved into linocut to produce a print. I continue to draw on the theatricality of the painting’s space in my work. I like the way that the trees act as a compositional device that frames the scene. This reminded me of Early Renaissance paintings such as Giotto’s paintings of St Francis or Duccio’s, Noli Me Tangere. But then it also links me forward to Ken Kiff, and David Hockney’s stage designs. I find that I work often in a flattened artificial space in my drawing. I wanted to develop work new work that referenced the source but was not direct. In a way the influence of this piece came in a flash and then the image was retained and continued to provide inspiration over many months. It’s good to develop a relationship with particular works. By really looking at an artwork you can develop a greater knowledge of what it is you’re looking at. In this case I wasn’t interested in paint technique or brush stroke, which would have been hard to see in the gallery anyway. I was interested in the image itself and the story it suggests. I was able to work primarily from a reproduction and from memory. The mind holds an image and enhances the elements that it thinks are relevant. I don’t feel as though the process of engaging in this research has a natural conclusion as ideas often recur in future work, however I am happy to share the development process and the linocut feels like a definite outcome.