I'm a Scottish artist, born and brought up in Edinburgh. I began by copying old pictures of Edinburgh from the 18 and early 1900s. This then progressed to my own images of the city, and then, one day, I quite literally passed a highland cow standing by the side of the road near South Queensferry. The move from the structure and form of buildings to a tangle of hair was a huge leap for me! But, I found that each cow, like buildings and any face, has its own individuality, which is now what I look for.

Yet with each drawing that I did, I was asked if I did anything in colour, so I put my pen down and moved to pencil. I purposely stayed away from the 0.03mm detail of my black and whites and looked for a contrast of colour and vibrancy. And now that I am working in colour pencil, I wonder how hard it will be to go back to my pens!