For almost forty-years my subject matter, and hence my pallet, has alternated between two extremes: the sombre tones of my birthplace in the North of England and the vibrant colours of my adopted Caribbean. I find that one invigorates the other. When "Naples Yellow" palm fringed beaches begin to pall, I turn to the "Ivory Black" mills and moors of Yorkshire. And visa versa. When the cold enters my bones and the mists prevent my watercolour washes from drying, I yearn for the warmth of the tropics.
Similar extremes spurred me on in the 1980’s when part of my work was designing postage stamps for the Caribbean. After weeks of labouring on a minuscule scale with a No 1 brush, I took my revenge by painting up a storm with a No 14 brush on the largest watercolour boards available.
Today’s picture of a canal and terrace houses, was painted between rain showers in the very heart of the industrial north.
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