David Hockney has started 'painting' on an iPad in preference to paper

Looks like Hockney doesn’t agree with Bill Gates that tablets need a stylus. In fact, he’s a confirmed iPad fan. He works with the iPhone/iPad App 'Brushes', using his fingers to “paint” directly onto the iPad screen to create digi-art which he sends out as emails.

The iPad is the newest example of Hockney's experimental streak; cameras, faxes, printers, and mirrors, as well as the more conventional oil, watercolour and pencil have all been used. And in the last year he has created many paintings on his iPhone.

Speaking to the Evening Standard about his iPad, Hockney said: “The iPad is far more subtle, in fact it really is like a drawing pad. They will sell by the million. It will change the way we look at everything from reading newspapers to the drawing pad.”

In fact, Hockney’s love of the iPad is so extreme, it almost sounds like he’s auditioning to takeover from Steve Jobs at the next keynote: “It can be anything you want it to be. This is the nearest we have got to seeing what I would call a universal machine.”

Last year he started doing pictures on his iPhone, stating: ""BlackBerries are for secretaries and clerical workers while the iPhone is used by artistic people".