"The same objects occur repeatedly in my paintings - a Staffordshire horseman, straight-backed and grandly bonneted, a rat's-tail candle-holder, a favourite treen bowl in which countless spoons have scraped a ghostly shadow. These form my repertory company: participants in the intimate dramas of still-life which I arrange and re-arrange around my studio.

When you regularly draw and paint an object, the hand memorises the form, and in time the process becomes less an exercise in observation and more an improvisation on a theme. The subject can flow through you unobstructed by intellect and inhibition, with luck revealing something about spirit more than surface. I approach landscapes and buildings in the same way, which is why Tretower Castle, Ynysypandy Slate Mill, Oxwich and other favourite places crop up so frequently in my paintings.

Frank Auerbach has painted the same small group of models for decades. I, too, feel more comfortable in the company of friends."

More information about the artist may be found on www.hicks-jenkins.com