Essays

Many of these essays are about my work, others about events I have witnessed or that have impinged on my life via my family. Some of it touches on famous historical events during two World Wars, which also led to me writing several crime novels.

Art

The Gilded Man

How I introduced a man of gold into my work

The Quiet Zone

How I unified ancient and contemporary art to create a postmodern painting

The Art of Bathing

How I revisited older paintings to find a suitable goddess

Don't Look Back

How the legend of Orpheus influenced a meditation on love and loss

The National Gallery

How great art led me to a life of meaning

The Movers

How I portrayed a workforce of 47 men and women, 13 trucks and 2 dogs

The Art of Modernity and the Influence of Manet

How Manet inspired me to make socio-political paintings

Yet Another Spectacle

How I responded to Guy Debord and car crash photography

Neptune Paintings: Adapting a Roman Myth for Modern Times

How a visit to Herculaneum led to the reworking of an ancient Roman myth

Happy Hour

How a chance encounter with my son completed the picture

The Orchard

How I reinterpreted a Roman myth to depict a modern marriage

This Charter’d City

How a painting came to life after 10 years gestation

Figurative Paintings 2013

How I returned to painting the human figure

AI

How I learned to use AI and sleep easy at night

Figurative Paintings 2014-2016

How I utilised a new studio to paint larger pictures

Digital Prints

How I came to make Giclée and C-Type photographic prints

Modern Culture

How aspects of modern culture have influenced my work

Stencils

How I learned from Piero della Francesca and computer scientist Larry Wall to develop a love for Reusable Painting Objects

Life

Looking for a Ghost: A Search for my Grandfather

How I researched the life of Frank Cave, a survivor of the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign

Richard Harris

How I witnessed the actor enhance his reputation as a pub-brawler

Alfred Hitchcock

How I witnessed Hitch hoodwinking market porters when directing Frenzy

Sid and Nancy

How I witnessed Nancy Spungen predicting her demise at the hands of Sid Vicious

Covent Garden Market

How my father crafted the fine art of ducking and diving

Kleptomania and My Father

How my father lived a light-fingered life-style

America 1973 – 1974

How I took two road trips from coast to coast, declining a career in the porn industry, while avoiding a 20-year jail sentence for gun-running

The Grenfell Tower Fire: Death and Destruction in Modern Britain

How I witnessed a tragedy close to my home

Ankylosing Spondylitis

How I learned to adapt my art and live with an incurable disease

Adelaide to Curaçao

How an ocean voyage left a lasting impression on a 15-year-old boy