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Portraiture h a d no fascination for m e in the b e g i n n i n g . I didn't think that in t h e year 2 0 0 0 p e o p l e w o u l d be interested in a portrait of s o m e o n e they don't know, or even of s o m e o n e they d o know. But I d i d u n d e r s t a n d that if I c o u l d g e t s o m e mastery it w o u l d facilitate anything else I ever p a i n t e d . So I d i d it more as a discipline. I c a m e to u n d e r s t a n d that y o u c a n fall i n love w i t h a portrait w h e t h e r y o u k n o w t h e person or not. W h e n m y kids b e c a m e teenagers I really enjoyed p a i n t i n g t h e m as two-year-olds because it p u t m e back in touch w i t h h o w u n c o n d i t i o n a l my love w a s for t h e m . N o w I d o portraits a n d landscapes a n d still lifes a n d s o m e watercolours. In t h e b e g i n n i n g w h e n I'd play w i t h watercolours for t w o or three days I'd get so frustrated a n d think, thank G o d I c a n g o t o o i l paints. Tfien after four or five days w i t h oils I'd get disgusted w i t h t h e m , too, a n d g o back t o watercolours. It w a s f u n t o be a b l e t o d a n c e b e t w e e n t h e t w o . N o w I love oil p a i n t i n g . I have n o trepidation w h e n I'm facing a blank canvas. But I'm still a lot more uncertain w i t h w a t e r c o l o u r s . Shane Vajda, remembered as a child Why is that? What makes watercolour so hard? You need t o master differences that c o m e from t h e a m o u n t o f w a t e r y o u h a v e o n y o u r brush a n d t h e paper you're using. It's actually m o r e t e c h n i c a l t h a n oils. You have m o r e variables. I c a n d o o n e p a i n t i n g a n d a b s o l u t e l y love t h e result. I k n o w I s h o u l d never try t o d u p l i c a t e it. But I still m a k e that mistake w i t h friends w h o w a n t " s o m e t h i n g like t h a t . " This is a c t u ally European t r a i n i n g . In Europe a n apprentice has to d o s o m e t h i n g t w o h u n d r e d times. If y o u d o t h e s a m e thing a g a i n a n d a g a i n a n d a g a i n y o u reach t h e point w h e r e your brain just shuts off a n d y o u e n d u p h a v i n g such c o m p e t e n c e . A n d that's w h y I pit myself a g a i n s t t h e c h a l l e n g e o f trying t o replicate s o m e thing. In w a t e r c o l o u r it's extremely difficult t o get t h e water flowing, to get the pigments moving so you c a n reproduce the initial results. Your paper c a n change. The clay content c a n c h a n g e so it doesn't absorb the p i g m e n t t h e s a m e way. So I d o n ' t have a sense of certainty that t h e e n d result is g o i n g to be m a g i c a l or a c c o m p l i s h e d . When did you paint African Coast, the picture on the cover of this magazine? In 1997.1 love that picture. It w a s probably my first watercolour. I w a s inspired by a book of Russian fairytales. There w a s a delightful graphic o f a w o m a n high u p in a turret l o o k i n g d o w n o n t o a long series of boats g o i n g off I w a n t e d t o get that sense of s o l i tary romance, of w a t c h i n g the person y o u love g o a w a y a n d w o n d e r i n g w h e n - or if - y o u w o u l d see t h e m a g a i n . It captured my heart. I d i d a sketch a n d I 10 January | February "Having seven pieces going at once loosens you up. You don't get so doggedly determined, so eentsyfeentsy." started putting c o l o u r o n it just t o explore the m e d i u m . I w o u l d p u t blue o n a n d I w o u l d w a s h it off, put it o n a n d w a s h it off. Each time a little more of the blue w o u l d be a b s o r b e d into t h e clay content of the paper, b u t I c o u l d take off the excess so it didn't look dirty. In t h e e n d it a l m o s t l o o k e d like it's been printed. That's a really rudimentary attempt at c a p turing sunlight. The funny thing is, w i t h t h e oil paintings, w h e r e I'm still trying t o master getting paint onto t h e c a n vas, I t e n d t o a l m o s t d o a n o i l sketch, very faint a n d fluid as it starts t o c o m e t h r o u g h . I c a n get a lot of definition w i t h very little paint. A n d I d o n ' t w a n t to put a lot of paint o n because w i t h a n oil p a i n t i n g o n e of the m o s t m a g i c a l things is to have the light dance off t h e back of the canvas. You need s o m e light still there. N o t that I'm g o i n g t o be a r o u n d in three h u n d r e d years, but if any of those paintings are still k i c k i n g a r o u n d in people's attics I think they are g o i n g to stand t h e test of time materially more successfully than others that are trying to support a heavier base of colour, w h i c h makes the picture more vulnerable to temperature shifts. Tell me about your working methods. Do you paint every day? I work in clumps of time. W h a t I love about p a i n t i n g is that it's like falling into a w e l l or a river a n d not being able t o surface. W h e n I start to work time dis-