Over the past years, I have been drawn back again and again to the colours and energy of India and Morocco. Such countries present an intensely vivid tapestry of light, colour and movement and it is this intensity that attracts me and compels a desire to record a moment which is gone almost as soon as it has appeared. My paintings are in this sense a direct emotional response to the subject matter. I enjoy the challenge of working fast, directly from the subject and, motivated by colour and movement, to try to capture an essence of something which has already changed. The first problem in a country like India is to find somewhere to paint from without being disturbed; a solution on my recent trip to Varanasi was to paint from a boat on the Ganges. From the gouache sketches, I produce larger and more considered oil paintings back in my studio.

More recently I have spent time closer to my roots in Scotland with a series of large landscapes in oil. Again the motivation is to try to convey some of the drama unfolding in the colours and shapes. Autumnal skies on the West Coast present the same sort of challenges as in India, where a moment of intense beauty has changed or is gone in a flash. My intention is always to try to capture the fleeting light and the essential spirit of a scene rather than to record it in exact detail.

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