It may be a scrap of paper I’ve saved from a furnishing magazine or the disgruntled look cows give me as I pass them in the field that morning that inspires me to paint. I find myself constantly sourcing images, taking photographs and scribbling down ideas which I may use that day or in a year’s time.

I get inspiration when I least expect it, normally when I’m relaxing and not consciously thinking about painting. I wonder how I’d capture on canvas the way the light’s falling on my son’s hair or which techniques I’d use to recreate the decaying plasterwork on a disused shop front.

Caroline Shotton