The picture surface is such an important part of any painting. I remember once looking at a Canaletto in the National Gallery in London and being amazed at the surface of the painting. Above all, there was this sense that you could touch any part of the picture surface be it the sky, the water,  the crumbling buildings or any other part of the picture - whether it was in light or in shadow. I like to uses washes of thin paint and work thicker paint into them. I like dragging thick oily paint over a dry colour. The horizontal area of the painting on the right (the sand and pebbles) is largely formed by dripping and dribbling thin washes over the vertical canvas, applying thicker paint and then doing the same over and over again. I love this contradiction. I I often paint the sky around objects in the foreground - especially if they are complicated forms like thin branches on a tree. These things must compete on the surface. I will often scrape the thick paint back to the canvas. I have never been a great fan of 'Palette Knife" painting. I try to avoid compartmentalising  any aspect of my work. I love tracing the history of a painting through the surface. It is perfectly possible to see almost every decision the artist has made.

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