More and more I am asked about my paintings: are they oil on canvas? Merely photo manipulated? Magic?

The simple answer is that all my works are posted in their appropriate gallery sections.

There are a number of other more or less realistic paintings in my gallery. All of these are digitally painted in Studio Artist by Synthetik Software. The same is true for most of the abstract works as well.

I do, indeed use photos as models, but the only 'manipulation' I do is run a 'sketch' filter over the model photo to get a very rough working outline, much the same way an artist will sketch the subject on canvas or parchment before applying colour in whatever medium.

Next comes the hard part. With my trusty *old* Wacom Digitizer II (and lowly UltraPen) I paint - NOT run filters - in the colour. This is a full-on bitch because, as anyone who has worked with real paints knows, the colours don't just magically go where the artist wills. This seems to me doubly true of pixels!

But, I push and I pull and and plead and swear oaths unto the gods and eventually, after some hours of work, emerge (with clean hands - goodbye turpentine!) something nigh unto "art".

At least I'm usually pleased with the outcome, and that's all that matters. Someone said "art for art's sake," but I say, "art for my sake, and the public can get knotted."

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programme...