In the 1500s, Japan was fought over by hundreds of rival warlords. They battled for territory and power, resulting in a century of near-constant war, until the Tokugawa shoguns won a decisive victory

It’s a sunny summer afternoon in a verdant corner of the Essex countryside. A pretty pastoral landscape lies before us, with cattle sheltering in the shade of oak trees, rolling green fields, and a gr

Which childhood book sparked your love of reading? The Shoe Shop Bears by Margaret J Baker, now sadly out of print. It was the first book I bought with my own money. I was bored by picture books and w

To me, the most important thing about a painting is why. Why do I want to paint this subject? Is it because the lighting on the subject is wonderful? Is it because I just love the subject? Is it becau

I STARTED cartooning at the tender age of 15 when I landed a regular slot in my local paper, the “Brentford & Chiswick Times”. I basically turned up at their office with samples of my cartoons. A year

Sandra Busby classes herself as a painter of ‘playful light in glass and still-life'. She finds the majority of her inspiration within the distortions of light on reflective surfaces and much of the o