The south of France is such a cliché for painters. Artist like Matisse and Van Gogh always talked about the light and the blazing sunshine. How can a contemporary artist respond to these locations and make it new?

After several failed attempts to respond to this part of the world I realised that the night time and the use of ‘artificial light’ offered me an opportunity to re-visit these locations and deal with them in way that emphasised their artificiality and constructed nature.

This notion is reinforced by the use of unorthodox supports for my paintings (Varnish on plywood and velvet).

This way of working also suggested using post card conventions (exaggerated colour etc) for further exploration of clichés and holiday landscape destinations.