Alaska is the most beautiful, peaceful place imaginable, and since my trip there a few years ago I have worked continuously on a series of paintings inspired by the wonderful clear light, and the mysterious shapes and colours presented by the glaciers and the ice “growlers” floating in the surrounding waters.

The two series I have made about water are very different from each other. At Bubble Pond, in Maine (as you can see on the Pond page), the water was green, murky with reeds and half-hidden boulders, and the weather was warm. In Alaska, the air was crisp, and there was drama as well as mystery in the deep waters and the coloured layers of ice which make up the glaciers. Like those people one sees sitting bundled up in their parked cars on the seafront in winter, gazing out to sea, I am mesmerised by water, its variety and changeability allied with reassuring, timeless repetitiveness, the transition from silent swell to turbulent crash. In these paintings the water is just a starting point from which, as I paint, I can enjoy allowing my mind to play . The only criterion will be whether I have communicated something which feels true to my memory of experiencing these places: the balance between subtle contrast and the drama of colour and depth.