Interview by Liz Martin
November 22, 2010

Could you list for me the materials you use to create your art?

Generally I use acrylic paint on canvas stretched over a panel made of thin plywood nailed to the stretcher bars. This lets me really lean against the painting while working, or use violent techniques like throwing paint at it! If I am working on a car, surfboard or a “found canvas” from a thrift store I use sign painter’s enamel.

Do you have a routine when creating?

I don’t have a routine so much as a process. I paint pretty much the way reality is constructed, working on the furthest background first and making my way to the object in the foreground. I try to start work by 9 in the morning and go until 5 or 6 in the evening…

Please tell me about you, be descriptive...

I was born on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean in 1959 and washed up in Los Angeles California in 1980 and never left. I drive a 1957 Chevy and have five cats that tell me what to paint. I have been shot at twice and survived a near death experience after being hit by a car; these events have made me greatly appreciate being alive. I have a daughter named Lorraine who is not an artist!

What inspires you?

Objects and actions that are out of the ordinary; I find the beauty in both an abandoned rusty car in a field and a Rembrandt painting. I am often inspired by descriptive prose in literature or poetry and The Theatre of Cruelty…

Who inspires you?

I am in awe of people who have survived traumatic events and yet somehow maintained their equanimity. Animal behavior fascinates me and I enjoy watching cats in the garden.

Education background?

After High School I got through two years of art school then took employment as a production painter for a textile design company.

Music?

Heavy Dub and bird calls

If you had Oprah's money, what would you do with it?

Give it back to Oprah!