Demo 11: new directions

There's a hint of ritual involved in that delicious "pupation" stage, anticipating and building up to something different when creating fresh artworks.

Part of finding new directions is doing a little studio “housework”, like sanding back old boards – abandoned paintings that have become outgrown – so they can find new life in my next series of new paintings. Follow this with a good dose of information-gathering, thinking about colour and preferred formats.

Then there’s that hard-to-describe magic when ideas and dreams bubble away and your sketchbook fills up. (If only we could bottle it for those scarcer days.)

It’s all prerequisite to breaking the ice and getting going on gessoed boards, canvas or posh paper.

A million micro-decisions

This session includes a demo about sourcing inspiration, working in my sketchbook and prepping surfaces before I get covered in paint and begin making the million micro-decisions that go into creating a single artwork. I thought you might like to hear and see more about this aspect of my studio process. And I suspect you’ll relate.

Finally I’ll tell you about BBC journalist James Naughtie’s favourite artist...

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