experienced in respect of what goes into them and what is trying to be carried through them.Yes, sometimes I will paint what I see and experience physically and through my senses, but I will always try and paint what I experience emotionally. Often I will hunt for subject matter based on what I am experiencing.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Often I know exactly what prompted me, but from time to time it just happens. It whells up like water seeping from the ground, impossible to identify the root source. Those instances are I guess the result of a number of triggers, all coming together at once. So, what are these triggers?  Well almost every painting I produce stems from an inability to express intense emotion elsewhere; either not being permitted to, being denied the opportunity to or literally being unable to contain it. All it takes is one small trigger to release it in paint. It's much easier to tell you what inspires in terms of those triggers that to tell you what actually drives me to create ... that emotional source.They are everyday things that everyone experiences, but music and memories play a particularly significant role in triggering work. I must say I do find inspiration in the Old Masters, and you may see a little of that influence in my work here and there.  I try not to be a slave to them though.

When you first meet Carl, you sense that this is a shy and extremely reserved person, but once you gaze upon his paintings, you realise that he is a multi-dimensional artist, extremely individualistic and highly driven by the ebb and flow of emotions.

What inspired the exhibition theme and what does it mean to you?
I would rather not say too much about that and rather let the paintings do the 'talking', but this exhibition is my attempt at expressing an emotional state.  The title refers, rather obliquely, to a number of interpretive eves as a collective. This was inspired by, and is about eve, and Eve generally; and specifically songs dealing with the core understanding of Eve, which is in essence "life". Really , for me this is a segment of life through my eyes. The subject matter, the tone, the expression is sometimes serious, as is life.  I have painted what I sincerely felt, and yes often that reflects tragedy. The subjects may be on the dark side at times but they are soft, not hard, they are positive, not cynical and there is a hope that shines through.

You don't paint "pretty pictures",  why?
Well, that's not entirely true. I hope that some of my paintings are pretty. But I also hope that even my pretty ones are more than just pretty. When you refer to "pretty pictures" I interpret that as being works that are purely aesthetic and have no 'soul'.  In other words the art does not speak to you, it's simply pretty to look at. I hope that I never resort to doing that kind of work. Don't get me wrong, I believe that pretty pictures have their place in the art world. They do. But personally find it very intellectually and emotionally disengaging working on a canvas which says very little but just looks good. Eventually eye-candy becomes dull. And I believe the sensitive viewer picks up on that.

Do you paint what you have experienced, or is it imaginative works?
Without trying to sit on the fence or hedge my bets in any way, both! My paintings are very often purely imaginative in content or subject matter and yet fully ../2

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