1.     At what age did you begin creating art?

Like all young children I created lots of pictures at school and at home. my compatriots did the same.

As I moved through the years I noticed my school friends doing it less. They were obviously taking up

more sensible occupations.  I just kept going, and going. Therefore I was a natural for Art College

Arriving with a truck load of art just to get into a foundation year…I have never looked back.

2.     Why do you make art?

That’s a simple but at the same time very complex question.

I will go to the why not, in order to answer the why. If I am not making art, not going to the studio, not drawing or thinking about art, I am a very frustrated and difficult person. On the rare occasions I haven’t been Able to work in the studio E.G at certain periods when I was the Director of the National Art School Sydney and could not find time to make work, I was very Irritable, even depressed! It’s a bit like lining up the planets, if my work is going well then all the other things fall into place.

3.     Who do you make it for?

At the end of the day, it is my challenge and my solitary engagement. My battle to win, my journey of discovery.I had my first solo exhibition in 1972 and how audiences react, how critics respond, whether there are any sales are important, but at the end of the day that should not be the overriding influence for making ART. You have to trust your nerve, you have to stick to your guns and keep firing even if the enemy is at the gates.

4.     Do you plan out a piece or do you wing it?

I have some loose concepts and thoughts but I am wary of being too pre ordained. I am an intuitive artist and each painting is a unique journey. If I know too many answers before I begin, the path becomes boring and too predictable. I need to begin to go to the left for the first day, then go to the right for the second, then go straight ahead for the third ,backwards for the forth, blindfolded for The fifth and then who knows?

5.     Do you have heroes? If so, who, if not why not?

Yes many many people and the list keeps changing and getting refined. Let me start with a few artists. Max Beckmann. Edward Munch .Paula Rego. Peter Booth. Diego Velazquez  .Pablo Picasso. Other creative people who have had an enormous influence are George Orwell. Charles Dickens .Jean Sibelius. Ralph Vaughan Williams. Igor Stravinsky .Dmitri Shostakovich. Graham Murphy and Janet Vernon. Edith Piaf. All these people have changed my world more than any politician could.

6.     How do you decide when a piece of work is finished?

My paintings take between 1 hour and never, to complete. The best test is to live with the work for many months, if by then you have not walked in and changed something, then the chances are you have taken it as far as you can go. You can then send it off to Exhibition as if it was a member of your family you are finally saying goodbye to.

Do you have your own cure for artists block?

I have never had artists block, and I have been painting professionally for 40 years. That does not mean self doubts about the direction a particular body of works is heading, or going to see a Picasso retrospective and thinking, why do I bother? It simply means that if I don’t know what to draw or paint then I just take the closest thing to me and work with that. An ashtray.  My left foot. The left over’s on the dinner plate. The view out of the window ETC, All are fair game for a visual artist.

Do you think having an art education is important in order to be successful?

It is important if you want to teach in art schools in order to subsidize your habit.  It may help you to make contacts and realize that there are other crazy people like you out there. But if you mean to be successful as an artist, then there are many examples to the contrary of self taught practitioners. What is more important is dedication and commitment, especially when all other financial and emotianal support dries up.