I was born [on] 20 March 1943 and have lived in East Devon since 1994. I began to create fantasy drawings around 1968. I lived in a dream world, but when life hit me hard in 1973, I fell ill and suffered a major breakdown. Since then, gradually over many years, I have tried to live for the day and in the real world, which has proved very difficult for me. I didn’t discover I had schizophrenia until the early 1980s and was unaware I had suffered with the illness since my teens. ‘Pool of Tears’ was created in 1972, before my collapse. My creative output was great at this time and the picture expresses how I felt then. Originals poured out of me - I couldn’t stop drawing and inspiration came easily to me. The girl is trapped and crying - hence ‘Pool of Tears’ - while the small figure [in the background] has broken free and is dancing.

I was trying desperately to escape my environment and leave suburbia for a life of my own. I had relationship problems and couldn’t cope, so ‘I fell from Grace like rotting lace’, a line from one of my many poems expressing how I feel. Now I have become more mature. I try to live in Reality.