I am an eclectic artist, which possibly doesn’t do me any favours in the world of social media. I can see that the key to gaining a loyal audience is to continue doing one thing, and doing it very well. This probably rings true for any business. The baker that bakes killer muffins, the restaurant renowned for its burger. I guess I just get bored easily. An idea will fly into my head, or quite often a mindless doodle turns into something more. A meaningless doodle appears on the page from a long conference call and exists for no other reason than aesthetically filling a space.

I joke about not drawing people because I can’t do hands (which I can’t), but I have recently come round to the idea that drawing people might be essential to some of my newer illustrations. Illustration (capital “I”) should tell a story and these tend to be more compelling with people in them. However, my pen instinctively never really starts with a person in mind, or at least being the direct focus of the work to begin with. I suppose they are always in the background, implicitly waiting to be part of, or make use of, my imagining.

Guns, planes, machinery, architecture. Overtly or absurdly complex constructions that carry simplistic operations or results. The stories in these subjects are hopefully the funny or ludicrous nature of their construction or raison d’etre. But sometimes I may take a less fantastical tack and draw something just because it’s there and I like the look of it. I’m thinking especially of the architectural drawings from around my hometown in Pocklington, places you walk by without thinking. We always assume that exotic places are far beyond our reach, but they can often be right on your doorstep.

I’ve also come to look at a work of art more as a series. I was impressed by the way Hockney views many of his pieces to be one work. His 82 Portraits, or his iPad landscapes of East Yorkshire. It feels good to develop the subject, change it slightly and add new elements, seeing the progression of the execution from the first to the last. I have started many series, some more than others. The Faces Project. Several “Unlikely” series. Pocklington Illustrated. They will continue when the fancy takes me.