'I walked miles up and down thicket covered hills and valleys in Southern Spain to get a good view of a red deer. Near the end of my stay on a vast estate of a client I managed to get myself quite close to an unsuspecting deer in a beautiful glade next to a tiny stream and get the material for this painting. However a wild boar lurking nearby had seen me and bolted taking the deer with it. This was frustrating. As I was wandering about on the hills I had to constantly remind myself why it was that I was wearing myself out to get material for some ultimate painting that I had in my head. It was not for the money I would earn from the commission. It was not for any prestige I might gain. It was not to bolster my reputation. Rather it was because it kept me out in the open. In the wild parts of the world where by just being there meant that you were alive in a way most people were not. The natural world is vanishing before our eyes. To be able to experience it first hand is all the payment I want.'

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