Everything has a coat of paint on it. Life is so well hidden beneath the paintwork that the paint has become life…..

The first pictures were painted. I think they were on the walls of caves. Painting was used to create images of life. Then painting became used for creation – as shown by ‘abstract’ art.

So, now instead of paint being a mirror of life, it is used to create life. Everything gets painted to craft a certain image.

When our carbon fibre bikes come out of the moulds or the resin finishing line, it is all the same colour – each indistinguishable from the other. Then paint is applied and we suddenly have a multitude of models to choose from. The question is “does the paint job matter more that the carbon layering process under the paintwork?”

Many bike frames are rejected because there is a crack in the paintwork. It does not matter if the under laying carbon fibre is cracked or not. Suddenly, the paint is more important than what it covers up.

How often are buying decisions based on the paint (or dye) colour? Black cars are more class while red ones go faster?

Now we place more substance on external appearance. Can a simple thing as a fresh coat of paint gives a house another 10% value? Paint a room white and it feels bigger than a brown room? Paint a roof and it becomes brand new?

Do women just like to put makeup on, or is that labouring with the face paint meant to create an image that hides the real stuff?

The fact is that the paint has nothing to do with what it hides. When a client suggests to me that they have a leaking roof – just because the paint is peeling, I have to really bite my tongue. Sometimes I manage to let on that it is the fault of the paint – not the roof or the plasterboard.

Paint takes on such a coat of importance. An entire industry has been created to support its wellbeing. Automotive spray painter’s existence hinges on the repair of scratched paint. I have seen people virtually burst out into tears as they return to the car park to see a scratch on their car door.

A paint scratch can condemn a product into the ‘seconds’ heap – such is the power of the cosmetic finish.

Some may say that the job of paint is to protect what is underneath. I say that is used to hide it. The truth is beneath all that paint.

Then maybe, we do not like the truth. And our life does truly become a paint job.