Another painting I love is this watercolour by the English artist, Francis Towne (1739–1816). I saw it a couple of years ago as part of the Paul Mellon exhibition at the Royal Academy (2007/08) – held in the Sackler Wing, one of my favourite galleries.

He painted it in 1786, but it has an amazingly modern feel to it. I love the way he has segmented the colour on the Lakeland hillside. It’s a small painting – and like many looks even better in reality than in reproduction.

Ambleside 1786

... back in 1992, the RA held an exhibition of Alexander Calder's work - mainly mobiles - in the Sackler Wing.

Most art galleries I've visited have an atmosphere of quiet, studious contemplation. The Calder exhibition was completely different - there's something about his mobiles that lifts the spirits; the gallery was full of children too, all really enjoying sculpture in a way I hadn't experienced elsewhere.

I love the work of these artists and have definitely been influenced by them:
Wassily Kandinsky
Vincent Van Gogh
The Pre-Raphaelites
Albrecht Durer
Leonardo da Vinci
Sandro Botticelli

I read Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art about 20 years ago. I've still got it kicking around somewhere. From what I remember, he believed that visual art and music were closely connected. He also tried to evoke an emotional response within the viewer by the shapes and colours he created in his paintings. The question of what defines art, whether art has to provoke an emotional response in the viewer, whether it has to have any kind of meaning at all will never cease to be debated. In that context, it's fascinating to read the philosophy behind such a famous and influential artist's work.

I first saw paintings by Van Gogh when I was very young. My parents had a series of A3-size books about different artists. One was on Van Gogh; another on Botticelli. I loved them both. I love Van Gogh for the amazing use of colour in his paintings. They have a dreamlike quality and at the same time a sense of heightened reality.

I discovered the Pre-Raphaelites in my teens and fell in love with the richness and Mediaeval mystery of many of their paintings. The richness of their portrayal of fabrics and flowers appealed to me then and still does now.

I love woodcuts, linocuts, block printing - I keep meaning to dig out some of the 1970s linocuts that I love. But the first woodcut I ever remember seeing was Durer's Rhinoceros. I also remember going to an exhibition of Reynolds Stone's woodcuts back in the late '70s in Dorchester museum. I'm always on the lookout for exciting woodcuts and recently went to an exhibition in Abbotsbury in Dorset, where there were some beautiful modern woodcuts by Myrtle Pizzey and Ann Fagan http://www.artemisiaonline.co.uk/gallerypage.html

Most of Leonardo's work leaves me fairly cold. I just can't see the appeal of the Mona Lisa I'm afraid, but I love this study of hands. It's one of the most beautiful drawings in the world.

Finally, Sandro Botticelli - as mentioned above I've loved Botticelli since I was a small child. Both his delicate portrayal of faces and his beautiful depiction of flowers. Faces and flowers are probably the things I most enjoy drawing.