The decision to work directly with a sitter is fundamental to my practice.

For me, the traditional process of portraiture, the length of time spent with a person, the day to day stopping and starting of a work as a series develops  are factors that contribute to the interpretation of the work.

I believe working predominately in Black and White, without the added complexities of colour and mixed media (that were a major feature in my drawings previously) in the new series  I will be able to reinforce the underlying formal & abstract structures  inherent in the depiction of the sitter, whilst still emphasizing the emotional and psychological content.

Much of the impetus for my work draws on past European artistic traditions