I am entirely motivated by colour, and as a realist painter, along with being a big kid at heart, this inevitably lead to the subject matter of toys and sweets. It allows me to explore extremely vivid colour, and at the same time manipulate the structure and form of an image. Having trawled sweetshops, markets, eBay, and my mum's attic, to find my subject.

I start by taking a staged photograph in my studio. Although I enjoy photography, painting is my first love, and I may take as many as 200 photos of a subject before I'm happy with one. This has been made possible thanks to my digital SLR camera, and my Mac (which along with my easel are my best friends in the studio!)

I begin the painting process by translating the image onto canvas by lightly sketching it in yellow paint, followed by a more detailed under painting which acts as a map for the final painting. During this process, subtle changes naturally occur, as I do not want the painting to look overly photo real; it is important to me that in my paintings you can see it has been hand crafted. There is one other reason I paint these subjects, and it's quite simply that they are fun and put a smile on my face.