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Poetry and literature inspire much of my art, but not always directly.
Basically, I paint according to my moods. Sometimes they're consequential; other times they're not. Abstract art allows me that freedom. It's enigmatic. I don't always have to explain my paintings, and I don't care how they're interpreted.
Working with texture and colour is intoxicating. They galvanise me to experiment, to push the envelope and ask "what if ...?" Often I'll play around with computerised images, and distort them until I see something unusual. Then I'll begin developing a tangible, textured version on canvas – mostly large format, but sometimes small. I'll build layers with materials like rice paper, beeswax, watercolour, acrylic and gold leaf, then finish with resin to simulate the luminosity of water.
My work is always vivid, mostly blues and reds representing the antitheses of my emotions. I use shades of blue and turquoise to calm and soothe, and red to enflame. My red paintings frequently derive from what I've been reading – poetry, books, and newspapers.
Some of my paintings are just colourful diversions from reality; others have greater significance. Despite being an atheist, I'm fascinated by the politics of sin. The paintings in my 'Sins of Will' series were inspired by Dante's Inferno and the poetry of Tennyson and Bob Dylan. If asked to expound, I could say they are my abstract representation of the lack of form inherent in sin, and the interaction between good and evil.
On the other hand, they could be just vibrant red landscapes, big and bold enough to fill an empty space.
As an antidote to my red works, blue paintings like 'Lapis Shades' and 'Cobalt Seas' are tranquil and otherworldly, like floating soundlessly beneath the sea. 'Copper Rim' evolved from a computerised exercise in colour and form – a stream meandering through countryside. It's a very experimental piece, unlike 'Aquarium Mosaic' which bears a strong relationship to the photograph that inspired it.
But I'm not hung up on origins. Once a painting is out there, it really is whatever someone wants it to be. For instance, if they think the mountains in 'Sun Strikes Gold' are actually ocean, and the lava a sunset, it only serves to make my art more interesting. If I had fixed ideas about how it should be interpreted, I'd paint more realistically.
I have been painting seriously for only a few years, but I've been lucky. The Tree Frog Gallery in Maleny held an exhibition of my work in December 2003 at which 40 of my paintings were sold. Since then, there's been a steady turnover.
I can't be sure why my paintings sell, but I'm pleased they do. Perhaps Abstract Expressionism is the in thing. Or maybe a lot of people just have big white walls and they need something vibrant to match their cushions. I haven't really analysed it.
All I know is that art elates me. I have enough ideas to keep me painting for another 30 years.
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