I have only recently started painting. It is such a wonderful thing to mix memories with paint and create them into a picture.

Soon after I was born my father and mother bought the ‘Peggy’, a Bristol Pilot Cutter, which they moored up Mylor Creek near Falmouth in Cornwall. It was my first real home. My playground was the beach, no walls and an open sky. I saw the shore from the sea and on reflection I think this has influenced the way I perceive things.

I have had pictures I wanted to paint in my head for years and now being absorbed in composition and rhythm, getting lost in the story of what I want to appear is such a joy.

I never studied art and am not an analytical person. The image I want to paint is quite formed in my minds eye before I start but I sketch it many times to get the balance and elements where they should be. I use a very limited colour palette of about five colours plus black and white, as I love mixing colours and they are so important in the balance and composition.

Painting for me is about trying to represent what I see and feel about places and events that mean a lot to me.