To me it seems just crazy that colour is an illusion. When I first started painting I referred to the practice as colour saturation. I find the application of colour mesmeric, so I'm very happy that human eyes interpret reflected light as colour. Our language is filled with references to colour, sayings that describe many situations. I named an exhibition Colourful Language and used colour idioms as titles for the works:

• Out of the blue
• Once in a blue moon
• As white as snow
• A purple patch
• The black sheep
• Paint the town red
• Roll out the red carpet

Colour seems to mean a lot to us, we are insistent on children learning their colours early. Then we want to know their favourite colours and use our own preferences throughout life. Crazy as the idea of colour as an illusion is, I'm really taken by the notion that our brain, our visual cortex is constantly painting over the monochrome of life to create our own colourful world. No longer are we restricted to looking at the world through rose coloured glasses.