I am very happy to have been selected for the 2015 Fisher's Ghost Art Prize, with my painting Land of the Free. I think this is my 4th time in this prize.

Over the summer, during the interminable February heatwave in my sweltering studio, I repainted a couple of pictures initially made about year earlier. This was one of them. The initial picture was the first time I had tried to capture oxidised bronze, and over the course of the year, I got a whole lot better at it. So the repaint - which was really a whole brand new picture over the top of the old - actually took much longer than the first version. But much, much better. There was a richness to the tones, depth to the object, focal points, depth of field, three dimensionality. And cleaner overall. So getting selected for this means a lot, as it's been quite the journey.

There is a saying: its the journey, not the destination. Well, indeed. But I do wonder where this picture will end up.