Valerie Brennan interviews painter Jason Stopa about his work.

Asked about the inspiration to begin a painting, Stopa comments: "It comes from anywhere. I just pick up on things around me – the feeling of a neighbourhood, places, things or people that mean something to me. I like to let intuition guide what I'm doing. Sometimes I'll be watching a movie or I'll read a line in a book that resonates with me on a personal level. From there I kind of obsess over that thing, whatever it may be. Then I want to paint. But, the painting is always something else. The painting is about describing an abstraction – space, atmosphere and sensation."