My studio currently looks a little like one of those crime drama basements - you know the ones. The detective searches a suspect's house and everything looks normal until he goes into the basement, where he finds a huge cork wall filled with images of the victim.

The suspect is revealed as a stalker and the crime is solved.

Now I have a cork wall in my studio and it is currently filled with paintings and sketches and photographs of Tracey Emin.

In the unlikely even that any of you know Tracey, please reassure her that there is nothing to worry about!

I am simply doing what I do when I launch into something new in my art - I am following my own edict to "make 10 more."

This is something I often say in the courses I teach - students will tend to make something they like and then latch on to it, as if it is precious. They will share it on Facebook and show it to friends and maybe even frame it to hang on their wall.

Now there is nothing wrong with being proud of something, but it does often tend to get them hung up. They now become fearful of ever being able to do that again - they immediately freeze - terrified of not being able to repeat what they see as a miracle.

And that's why I say "make 10 more." Make 10 more using the same process, same subject, same colours ... do it to learn and grow. Do it to understand how unlimited you are. Do it to see that you can make magic over and over again. As you go, the work will get more interesting and I guarantee by the tenth version, you'll have forgotten all about that first one.

But also, you'll have learned something valuable about being an artist. You'll have learned that it takes time and energy and effort to make something worthwhile. And you'll have learned that we never stop growing and improving.

I once made a series of self portraits over a one year period. I did one every day. The very best one came on day 352. If that isn't a lesson in perseverance, I don't know what is.

So my wall isn't a sign of a deranged mind, but perhaps it's a sign of someone who is a little obsessive. Obsessive about understanding, obsessive about getting better, and obsessive about getting to the truth.

Here are two portraits done a few weeks apart. The second (on the right), is more advanced than the one on the left. I have explored my techniques more, and I have come much closer to a likeness.

But I have no doubt that if I keep going, I will soon use the blue as as the 'before' in a similar shot. I would like to be be as expressive as the first portrait but with more of a likeness, for example. I have a story to tell with these portraits and I feel it requires more than a good likeness.

The truth is that we get better as we go and we need to work at making something interesting. In fact, if keep working, we might just make something remarkable.

I don't feel I am anywhere close to remarkable yet, but I'm moving closer to interesting. I can smell it!

You might think I'm being hard on myself, but I have huge hopes for my art. I don't just want it to be good or accomplished - I want remarkable. I want to achieve something new in my work - something that only I could do (because we all have uniqueness in us). That is going to take some time.

In this newsletter, I always share what I'm thinking about at the current moment in the hopes that it might be helpful for you in some way.

So this week, I'm wondering whether this resonates for you at all. Are you the type to make a stalker wall - or do you feel you sometimes stop before you get as far as is possible?