I'm grateful to Sarah Bottjer for her comment that inspiration shines through paintings as well. It is interesting how we learn how to see and what to see. For instance I'm much inspired by the fine-liner drawings of Ian Sidaway; I don't want to copy his style, but certainly I've learned something about clarity from a man who knows how to draw light. It's also what we've seen in the past which shaped our perception. For instance in the quick sketch below I'm aware that theer are two major influences. I discovered the work of Graham Sutherland when I was a young man; I can well recall the excitement of the sculptured forms in his paintings. I'm also an Anglican priest and NHS chaplain, and have spent many yeras hearing and seeing storied of dereliction and connected those stories with wood and hammered nails. This morning I went out drawing in the estuary near where I live. I had done two, thought I had finished when I noticed these shapes stuck in the low-tide mud.