Finding a photo of myself that my father had kept in his wallet for over half a century was extremely meaningful, especially as it was so worn and faded, as though it had been taken out and put back in many times. I had to reinvent it in paint. When painting I often start from a photographic reference then subvert it. They can be a starting point, the image can be reimagined by the materiality of paint, Thick impasto, thin glazes, scratched, scraped, enlarged, reduced all the time maintaing the images origin. Not, to make a photorealist work, but occasionally a work that, from a distance may be mistaken for a photo, or a work that close up is almost abstract. These elements of abstraction and realism occur and reoccur throughout all my works, however their essence is found in the materials and the mixture of media and techniques used in their creation. The works often have a narrative, this can be personal or social. Throughout all though, material itself takes precedent.