He used to say that nature was his teacher of art and his love for nature encouraged him to paint. Initially, as a child, he used to draw using coal from the stove on the walls and floors, then on scraps of paper, on Bristol paper with watercolours and oil paints, for himself at first, for friends and neighbours later and, eventually, for the money. This was when the need to repeat the commissioned themes made him hate his dream occupation. Tired of painting tapestries, stags and portraits to order, he planted 230 plant species on a piece of his land. This was how he has opened a new chapter in his life and art: the plantation became the topic of the Gardens cycle. ‘There is fidelity to the order in the world of flowers in my paintings-flowerbeds. If I were to mix kingcups and tulips and their flowering times my conscience would be troubled’, he used to say.