Ray himself writes:

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'Every picture tells a story', so the adage goes, and in my illustrated talk I tell the stories behind some the paintings created over the past three decades.

I am a strong advocate of painting en plein air, so many of the tales recount humorous experiences encountered whilst painting on location, both in the UK and abroad. Living as I do on the coast at Exmouth, it is little wonder that the wide open spaces of sea, estuary and sky have been the mainspring of my art.

I love painting old character wooden boats and boat sheds, in particular those on my beloved Exe Estuary, at Camperdown Creek in Exmouth. They all have such fascinating stories to tell.

I believe art is not merely made by description alone and it isn't enough just to go to a place and set up an easel. For the full understanding of a place painters must submerge themselves in it, making it a multi-sensory experience. This also means identifying with it, getting 'under the skin' of the place as it were, learning something of its people and history.

For a professional artist constant experimentation to keep the work fresh is vital  A recent project has involved finding various found material washed up on the foreshore in order to make mixed media assemblages from them.