Ghost was painted in March 2000 as a response to the death of my Grandma, a person very cloase to my heart. Although there is no direct representation of her in the painting there are shadowy ghosts of figures drifting in and out of focus throughout the picture.

Spiritual matters are very high on my agenda as an artist. This is not solely for promoting the idea of spirituality for the sake of itself but because I believe the spirit is an integral part of what makes up the self and my soul is what I use to see the images on the easle. Without a spiritual side I believe that life would become dull and pointless - there would be no more mystery and the only answer I can find to the eternal questions (without the guide of the spirit) is to do with atoms and neutrons - a concept that, to me, seems totally without the romance of life. Spirituality gives us hope for the future, a reason to continue in our lives (however hard they may be).

The notion of the spirit also gives us comfort when a loved one has died. The idea that they have gone to a better place and are available to be contacted is important to many. Ghost is based around the same paganism as other images of mine and contains many references to that belief system - from the earth mother to the sky god. Saying that the main theme of the piece is communing with the spirit world, the man in the room on the cliff is communing with the spirit (the large blue figure over the centre of the picture).