I've been guilty of using this phrase regularly when I've been asked to describe my paintings. I'm afraid my 30 second elevator pitch has always been lacking - I've always thought I had more important stuff to do than deliberate over why I paint what I do, let alone articulate it in a way that won't leave the room quietly nodding off while I ramble on.

As the painting already had a space to fill we discussed my creating for her a painting in a similar style, using the same colour palette and with a similar subject matter. To have a 'because' can really help me embed personal meaning into the painting while I work...it could be as simple as special place, a poem, even a colour; just a little seed that I can nurture and plant inside the painted layers.

it was a completely different feeling to anything I'd ever created before and I loved it; the not knowing what I was painting, the puzzle solving organic process and there being no right or wrong to worry about.