When I first started painting, I really enjoyed working on newsprint. It sucked up paint like the paper was dying of thirst. I now find my newsprint love a little embarrassing. Newsprint rots, and fast. It turns yellow and brittle, and if you're not careful, the corners disintigrate and the work is easily damaged. That's actually why I liked newsprint, originally. The idea of a painting being only a temporary thing, something that erodes, pleased me. I also liked the way the rot made the painting look. Like a very modern treasure map full of colour.

Another reason I liked newsprint was the price. It's cheap. Canvas is not. If a painting on newsprint is an utter failure, you can tear it up. If a painting on canvas is a failure -- well, you can scrape all the paint off and start over. But I didn't know that, back then. Canvases scared the hell out of me, and I thought I'd just stick to newsprint.

This work is a portrait of the author Hubert Selby Jr. He wrote Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream as well as other fascinating works. I like him. So when I came across a photo of him in a photography journal at the university library, I just had to do a portrait. So, here it is.

When I was living in student residence, I was 28. Everyone else was 19 or so. I painted a lot, although I was doing a Creative Writing degree at the time, and hung my art work in the hall. I sold my paintings for five dollars a pop and used to money to buy food. By that point, most of my student loan was gone. I actually sold quite a few paintings -- almost all of them on newsprint.

Which means most of them have probably fallen to pieces by now. Sorry about that everyone.