
​​A visual artist, I like to connect with other cultural genres​
​
A couple of years ago, I started sketching musicians on jazz-nights at my local pub
​
They're ideal: moving but staying put; absorbed in the music; and, best of all, oblivious to me
​I do 20 or 30 sketches a night, in pen and ink
I try to draw what I see. But, like messages in a bottle, the lines tell another story: of being there; of the excitement of live performance; of musicians at one with their instruments - and of my imaginings
​
​​If I like one, I work it up, digitally, into a print and look for a way to get this into the 'real' world. This might be in film or in a physical space
​
Last year, through my son, Tom, I got my work into Distrikt, an underground music bar, in Leeds. I loved the way the images reacted to the spectacular lightning
​
​
​​


And now, I'm working in The Pineapple, an old-fashioned boozer, in my home town of Stockport, Manchester. It's perfect: on my doorstep; hardly changed in 30 or 40 years; clear wall-space; friendly locals; a landlord who 'gets' it; and a juke-box that plays the music of my youth;
Currently, I'm doing a mural in a derelict space at the back
​
It's a mash-up of some of my drawings, in black marker pen
​
I love the distressed walls - like cheap paper, they put me at ease
