The main subject of my works is the old fishing community in the coastal town of Hastings in East Sussex, where I grew up from the age of three, just a few minutes from the boats and the seashore.

There is no harbour, so the wooden fishing boats have to be pulled up out of the sea buy winches onto the pebble beach. This looks very interesting and when the vessels get slowly drawn up they appear to me to take on the form of gigantic creatures or dinosaurs slowly emerging from the sea and stranding themselves on the shoreline.

The beach is full of the working rubbish left by the fisherman – nets, flags, anchors, crab cages, seaweed, rope, etc. It all looks a hive of activity but at many times is mysteriously empty of people, the work in many places looking half-finished like the Marie Celeste. The atmosphere along with the ever-changing beach, sea and sky are all very inspirational.

I make sketches from photographs that I take, sometimes concentrating on a very small detail and then use my imagination to try and "fill in the gaps". I finally work in oil paint, either on canvas or canvas-covered board. My style is quite graphic with strong lines and forms, at times expressionist but also somewhat naive.

The work investigates the forms and shapes found on the beach, concentrating on the hulks and their form and design, simplifying the shapes and exaggerating the colours as they change with the light and weather. I am interested in the forms of the boats and their relationship with the living beach and the fishermen that work with an depend on them for their livelihood and their very lives.

I also attempt to imbue the paintings with my own personal experiences and feelings – a melancholy solitary boat or fisherman, a bright sunny day or ominous dark skies. Trying to create an atmosphere, the sometimes harsh reality of the life of the fishing community is mysticised and romanticised.

Life is changing and the wooden vessels, many of which seem to have their own individual personalities are slowly being replaced with ones with metal and fibreglass bodies.