As anyone can see, my paintings are mostly about nature. When I feel attracted to interiors it’s normally because of a window opening into nature. But there’s more here than the simple contrast between the darkness of a room and the light coming in.

Even though the contrast between light and dark can be reduced to black and white, what we see is complex. There are often multiple light sources – a window and interior lights for example – and the way they interact casts different shadows. Surface and reflection create elusive colours, and seeing those colours is vital if you want to convey the spirit of the place.

At another level, light is a spiritual metaphor (of which one needs to be very careful). For me, an interior is about ambivalence. The dark represents warmth, safety and intimacy and the night. It is the womb. The light – for some –  is transcendent (in the Christian sense), revelatory, divine. Sometimes I want to shut that out because it is too demanding. So a window represents this tension between the call to be in the world and the need to hide from it.