Valerie Brennan interviews painter Rodney Dickson about his work and studio practice.

Dickson comments: "These days I am using a lot of paint, not because I set out with an ambition to have that look of thick paint but because I am constantly changing the painting, in every session I paint the entire surface so the painting looks quite different from one session to the next and the paint thickness builds up because of that. I want to work in this way because I want everything to work together and have a fresh look and be done in that place in time… I would like to be shocked or surprised by my work, but it is almost impossible to be surprised by something you made yourself, so this is why I am constantly changing things, creating and destroying, discounting the familiar and hoping for the painting to become organic and evolve rather than be designed."