'This painting is of the Zanzibar Stone Town waterfront. The ancient sailing dhows that still use the port at Stone Town are still in use and taking goods to Kilwa Kivinje, Dar es Salaam and Tanga on the East African Coast in Tanzania. But there are less of these traditional sailing dhows about now, and the number diminishes every year. In Kenya they have disappeared altogether from the Old Port of Mombasa. In the 1960s when I lived and went to school in Mombasa I would watch dhows sail past Fort Jesus bound for Zanzibar, a sight that never failed to get my imagination fired up. Whenever I see a dhow now the same thing happens! I get goosebumps. The Swahili Coast really does have a powerful effect on me and that's why I love to paint scenes such as these. They remind me of those goosebumps!'

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