Many years ago, when I was still living with my parents, I was looking in the newspaper to see if there was anything new to read about Celtic. I discovered one of the back pages had been removed and knew almost immediately why. My mum had taken it out for the simple reason that a page 3 girl was attached to the back page football section. Now this is hard to believe, but I was 16 at the time! Anyway, I said nothing about the missing pages. You see I and my sisters have been brought up in a strict Catholic environment, sex was taboo, even in a family with six weans!! It was obvious that my mum didn't want me to catch the sight of a half-naked, topless woman. Fair enough, but by that time I had just started at the Glasgow schol of art and was a keen student of life-drawing, attending life-drawing classes with naked models at every possible opportunity. So, what to do? It's murder when you canny ask your mum where the missing pages are. In any case, I still wanted to read about Celtic and I knew she must have kept the paper aside for my dad to read when he got back home from work, (and have a swatch at page 3 I'm sure), so they had to be in the house. I started a search and soon found the football article with the offending page still attached to it, hidden on top of the wardrobe. I didn't take the chance to read the football - believe me it was too risky, still, I knew at some point they would land in the bin and once there, I would get the chance at some point of redeeming the pages. And sure enough, the next day I would fish in the bin and get the paper. At last I could read about Celtic and slobber over the "sinful" page with one eye on the lookout for my God-fearing mother. As an aside I took my revenge by cutting out the photo of some of those page 3 crackers and stashed them away. That way I managed to collect quite a number of those girls. It was a cat and mouse game that my mum didn't know she was playing - or did she? I would sometimes wonder if the next time she opens the bin-lid she might have noticed the contents were rearranged, and put two and two together. What a nightmare, it was like smoking in the toilet with the window open. (I didn't do that, but one of my sisters did). Since then I have taken the girls with me from house to house - from the west end to Tighnabruaich and back home (where I hid them in the attic), to London and finally to Hamburg. Not long ago I rediscovered them all neatly stored, in a file, those old, faded, newspaper cuttings from the early seventies. Looking at them again is quite funny. They look so dated with their big hair-dos. some of them still look charming, others are naive, some cheeky and pouting in an attempt to look like an erotic model. Nearly all of them have parted lips. They are beautiful women, and I still like them.

Figure painting is one of the main areas of my work. I usually paint my figures using information from my beach studies or life-drawings. Sometimes I use my memory which together with some lingering anatomical knowledge serves me well. I often let figures evolve, I alter the pose, change the torso and turn the head, arms move around until they find their position. It's my process of working. These cuttings prompted me to try something new in two respects

This is the first time that I have used photos to inspire me for a series of figures, photos that I have deliberately copied. This series hasn't allowed me my normal approach letting me develope the figure; I wanted them to stay the way they are, to be identifiable as page 3 girls. Although I havn't gone as far as to smooth them like in the photos, I have kept somewhat close to their expressions and the seventies look. These paintings have been energtically worked on using oil and charcoal. I have also integrated the ladies into a theme I have been working on for quite some time - my bathers. The figures are painted life size, coloured in, and all posing against the sky, sea or beach. I've turned them into bathing beauties.

This is also the first time I'm using my art to delve into my past. I'm older now than those girls, but I like the idea of bringing them back to life, this time though to exhibit and share with others. It seems that the circle is closing. What I saved back then when I was an art student is now being used to produce recent work. I must admit though, I still get a bit nervous wondering how my mum will take to this confession, when she realises I saw the burds after all. In any case, thanks to the fact that she was worried about the well bing of my soul, she also unwittingly interfered in my passion for Celtic, which she greatly underestimated. I think it is appropriate that I dedicate these pictures to my mum. I only hope she sees the funny side of it.