Giles Wood was taught to respect draughtmanship by Maggi Hambling. Eschewing the modernist aesthetic to pare away detail to the logical conclusion of the blank canvas, Wood enjoys painting the clutter of peoples’ lives and popular demand has recently led him away from his trademark landscapes to specialise in interiors. His remarkable portfolio commissioned by the great and the good — Henry Keswick, Robert Harris, Erskine Guinness, Robert Hiscox and Richard Ingrams — suggests that he has a particular aptitude for this genre and for capturing the detailed patina of the owners’ lives and of their personality at that moment in time. “I like the contemplative aspect — sitting for several days in a room, watching the light change. There are as many changes as with a landscape. I always work in oils as they give more depth. The finished painting should offer an insight into the painter as well as the subject”, says Wood who is married to the comic writer, Mary Killen.