HOW I WORK

My interest in picture stories goes back to a teenage fascination with Egyptian tomb paintings. At the same time, I taught my sister to read using picture stories I had made.

For my Storytiles murals, I start by interviewing my subject over several sessions and taking photographs of them. I paint the story in a book which is of significance to that individual: this is for personal and artistic reasons: it helps me overcome the fear of the blank page, and tune in with my subject. For Martin's Story, I used his own copy of the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book; for Charlie's Story, it was The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. He told me that he'd read it when he was trying to come off drugs in Dartmoor Prison, and it was "the only thing I could find peace in".

Colour is restricted to Prussian blue and white; other colours are added only occasionally to bring out special details. This colour scheme was inspired by a sketch by my father, Colin Forward, drawn in blue-black ink in 1946: a visitor comes to his house, hat pulled down over his eyes, looking like a gangster. The stark contrasts of this colour scheme recall the dramatic lighting effects of the noir crime films of the forties and fifties. And of course, it goes back to the long tradition of blue-and-white ceramics started in Delft in the 18th century, and continued since then in English Potteries, of which the story-telling willow pattern is the best known example.

When each story is finished, it is scanned and saved as Jpegs. Then the images can be tidied up and inserted into the tile template in Photoshop, and the logos added to the artwork. When I am completely satisfied, the designs are approved by the commissioning partners before being sent to Heraldic Pottery to be printed.