You've got to love an artist who claims his initial paintings were inspired by garden sheds in the Argos catalogue. Stefan Bottenberg was born in Germany and raised in Belgium. He studied Gravure in Brussels before studying printmaking and photomedia at Central St Martin's in London. He took part in many installation shows in London and was a member of the 'then' art group.

Drawn to paint the suburban Belgian bungalows of his youth, Bottenberg was struck by the 'shuttered off' isolation of these detached mini palaces and fascinated by their 'architectural eclecticism'.

Bottenberg describes his style in these pictures as 'hobbyist'. He has also developed a technique of embroidering images onto plywood, creating a wavy effect as though the image is viewed through textured glass.

Recently, Bottenberg has embarked on a series of 'men at work' pictures, perhaps turning now for inspiration to the Screwfix catalogue? Spray painted stencils on paper, they focus on people employed in specific tasks.

[I have somehow managed to come this far in life without acquiring anything much of any value but I do own the 'Interior' painting at the top of this post. It is a metre wide, painted on plywood. It was bought at a time when buying art was the last thing I should have been doing but it has ably furnished all of my own interiors since and given me a great deal of pleasure. It was money well spent.]