David's has been painting all his life but this is his first exhibition. Originally conceived as a fundraiser for the Asian tsunami David's show has gone ahead although collecting for the disaster has now come to an end.

One of the works in the exhibition was painted in response to the tsunami but David wants to hear what others see in his paintings. He does, however, explain part of the picture. He points to a strap at the bottom: "That's like on your computer when you go on to 'Next.' You're learning about something so you are on Page One. That's saying it's going to happen again and again and again, so I think we have to learn by the mistakes we've made this time for the next time and the next time. We won't be able to avoid it. It's Mother Nature, isn't it?" Although he thinks we can't prevent disasters like the tsunami he believes there may be lessons to be learned in getting food and equipment out more quickly to the victims of disasters.

Outside the Hutson Street cafe

In addition to his work hung in the cafe David has over 100 paintings at home. He says: "Some of them are other disasters I've painted. I've done a 9/11 painting as well. Sometimes I paint disasters, sometimes I paint wildlife. Sometimes I paint statues. Sometimes I just paint abstracts."

David describes what's in his mind when h'se painting an abstract: "I try and make it so people can look at it and see different things."

He points to a painting flowing with colour: "I can see someone running there. He's running that fast - you're just getting that glimpse. It's the wrong way round." He explains it should have been hung the other way round but there was no space on the wall. "It reminds me of go-go dancers when it's the right way round. A lot of what I like doing is when people have to use their brains to see different things...That's what I like about it, you can see something different. And I have many paintings like that. Everyone sees something different in them."

We look at a picture that is much more geometric in appearance but which he thinks demands less of the onlooker: "You can see there are squares and triangles and round shapes. Just looking at that you can see what's there."

Detail from David's painting was prompted by the Asian tsunami.

David says he has always liked painting: "I've been painting since I was at school. It's one of the only things I can do well." And he has created his own medium to work in: "It's not paint you'll see anywhere else. I mix different paints together then I add different secret ingredients, shall I say, to make that paint. Some people think there's a glass over them but there's no glass. It's just paint and people think you can't touch them, but you can touch these, and all the fingerprints will wipe off, and you can polish them and they'll shine for longer."

He feels driven by the need to paint: "The urge to paint comes before the urge to eat. Sometimes I can't turn it off. One painting took three days, it was non-stop and when I say non-stop I didn't go to bed, didn't go for lunch and had the kettle right near me. You can't turn it off and it's tiring, it's knackering. I can wake at two o'clock in the morning and feel I've got to paint. I'll be up and then I'll be at it for days and I'll lock the door. No-one comes in. It's like running a ten-mile marathon up a hill."

David explains how he has developed his skills as an artist: "I wanted to go to college and paint but I realised this would be just the normal paint and painting skills, and I didn't want to do that so I thought if you had to pick who you wanted to teach you, who would you pick? I had to pick the best - Leonardo Da Vinci and Van Gogh and Picasso and Turner, and with each painter I studied how they did them. I did some of their paintings then I tried to use different paints to make it more modern. So it's a mixture of learning from older painters and mixing it with what I know now."

David makes his own paint which brings luminosity to his work

Joy Rainbow is the team leader at the Hutson Street World Cafe and is responsible for developing an arts project there. David's involvement with the cafe came after a chance meeting with Joy in a Bradford picture-framing shop. The cafe, which aims not only to provide its customers with a diet of art but also to provide affordablwith an international flavour, has attracted interest from all over the world: "We've had people come to visit the cafe because it's unique in its approach. I think it's the world theme. We try and serve different foods and it's a theme that people can link into. The art project's been going for a year or so and David's part of that. It's about promoting the work of local artists and giving them an opportunity to display their work."

We asked David what his plans are for the future. For now he would just like to get some more paintings into exhibitions to give him some room to paint his house - this exhibition has given him the chance to once again see the walls in his front room!

David now has a website where his paintings can be seen but as yet he has no plans to sell any of his pictures: "I don't want to sell them. I don't like parting with them, not yet, but I'll say this now - I'm open to offers but no-one has got to where I've said, 'Yes,' yet."

David Morrill's paintings are on show for six weeks from March 9th 2005 at Hutson Street World Cafe, Newall Street, Bradford 5 - 'phone 01274 4724176 for more details.