I have no formal art training and started to paint in 1993. I am self taught. I lived and worked in West Africa for most of the early eighties and first encountered reverse glass painting in Senegal where it is a traditional art form known as peinture sous verre. I was enchanted by the paintings I brought back from Senegal. I loved the luminousness and depth that the glass gave the colors. For years I thought about trying to paint on glass, and finally tried it in 1993. I consider Babacar Lô, a Senegalese man who I have never met, my teacher. It is from his paintings I figured out this technique.

Reverse glass painting is an obscure process involving painting backwards on the wrong side of clear glass. The synergy of paint and glass has a depth and luminousness I've not seen in any other medium. I am often asked if it's tedious or frustrating working inside out and backwards, but I'm left-handed and dyslexic, and for me it feels natural and comfortable. It was very liberating to discover this technique. Rather than use traditional artist's materials, I use sign painter's enamels.

I'm inspired by food, maps, written and spoken language; travels in Yemen, Syria and the Sinai; my vividly remembered childhood and dreams, and the stark landscapes and extreme weather of the desert where I live. I go to the circus whenever I get the chance.