For representational artists, painting can be considered a negotiating process; a transaction carried out between the artist and appearances; the record of it made in paint on canvas or paper. The artist negotiates with the emerging imagery, confers with it and arrives at a settlement, then moves on. To what? The next one of course? Over the years, after exploring a number of artistic cul-de-sacs, I have always returned to painting non-figurative paintings. Why? They always seemed to me the most compelling of the visual arts – the most interesting. What’s been seen can’t be unseen; Rothko, Stella or Blinky Palermo. In 2009 I retired after 37 years teaching Art & Design and completed a two-year MFA degree at Grays School of Art. Doing so allowed me to update my knowledge of contemporary art practice and offered the opportunity to reflect on my own place within it. I have maintained a studio at WASPS Aberdeen ever since, effectively moving out of the classroom into the studio.