I must say that the new year has started off with loads of doom and gloom across the world, however in my studio I can shut all of that out and concentrate on my work. The more that I look at the natural formations and colours of the Earth, the more I am fascinated. I am struck by the similarity in shape between a ridge of mountains and the shape of the backbone for instance, which brings us into the world of macro and micro, salt flats from the earth can look like amoeba or plankton and sinter crusts resemble algae, and lichen on rocks. I have been working on a series of 13cm square tiles, immersing myself in texture, relief and paint, the tiles are to be exhibited together as a larger wall piece, the piece can be flexible in that it can be larger or smaller to suit the space in which it is exhibited. I envisage maybe a hundred pieces, 30 of which have been completed so far. At present the tiles fall into three categories, land, water, ice. I believe that in the depths of a grey and dismal English winter, my studio is a refuge.