In August 2019, I visited the famous stepping stones at Dovedale, Derbyshire, UK. The water level was unusually high and flowing fast, due a prolonged period of heavy rain.
The lake is an amazing place and renowned for its intense blue water. The lake was formed about 7,700 years ago when Mt Mazama blew up. Later, the caldera slowly filled up with ice water melt to a depth of well over half a kilometre (hence its intense colour).
The painting shows a boat departing from the safety of home to go out to sea. The scene is mostly imaginary but based on elements taken from reality.
Blenheim Park in Woodstock, UK, is a wonderful place to walk among the remnants of snow and the fallen leaves that lie amid the young trees
Woodstock in Oxfordshire is wonderfully atmospheric at night with many historic buildings lit by lights on neighbouring walls. On the far left is Chaucer’s House where Thomas Chaucer lived (he five times the Speaker of Parliament in London and the son of Geoffrey Chaucer of Canterbury Tales).
The Wesley Memorial Church in New Inn Hall Street is next to St Peter’s College. My undergraduate rooms in St Peter’s looked over to the Church roofs and the beautifully proportioned spire, which I first painted in 1962. It still holds my attention when I pass it today – particularly at night.
The Great Orme is a limestone headland on the north coast of Wales and can be accessed by cable car and cable railway. The views are spectacular and the rides so memorable.
It was a lovely sunny day in Eastbourne by the harbour – but turning round we suddenly noticed an impending storm coming our way. We had no time to reach shelter – and we very soon got thoroughly drenched. But it actually made the day (and this scene) more memorable.
This is a fictional distillery made up from various impressions of Irish distillery scenes and is intended to create the atmosphere of such places
The revamped Westgate Shopping Centre in Oxford (opened in Oct 2017) fascinated me with its many escalators and levels. I noticed for one of the escalators that the cover of a supporting column was partly missing. This gave an unusual insight into the insides of the structure and which I retained in the painting because it added harmonising colours.
As a great admirer of Johannes Vermeer’s work, I have tried to create a scene such as he and his contemporaries in the 17th century might have painted but with links to the 21st century. The house is typically Dutch in character and lighting. Like some other Dutch paintings of the period, I have used a bunch of keys to indicate the key to understanding the picture. The laurel wreath near the keys is associated with Clio (the Muse for History in Greek mythology) who is shown being painted by Vermeer in his painting on the wall. (You can tell it is Clio because she is carrying a large book and by the clues left on the books on the floor in the foreground of the main painting). I show Vermeer from the rear as he painted himself in “The Art of Painting”. Although Vermeer is painting Clio, he is actually looking at a young 21st century girl in a white dress (which is also shown hanging on the wall to the left of my painting). To the left of the painting on the wall is a modern abstract picture with the same colours and design (in abstract) as seen in the painting to the right. Below it is the pair of white shoes that the girl wears in the picture. To link the 21st and 17th century I have added brushes in a pot – denoting art is the link.
Even as an Oxford man I have to admit that punting on the Cam in Cambridge is a great experience that provides wonderful views of the backs of the Colleges along the way. I saw this person as a silhouette as he passed under one of the many bridges.
