Old Paint Never Dies – Moon Over The Downs 1993

moon1

‘Moon Over The Downs’ oil on canvas 5′ x 5′ un-stretched canvas. 1993

In January 1993 things were pretty much as usual. I was still officially unemployed.

I received a ‘commission’ from my friend Pete Astor who was at that time living in Walthamstow with Sukie Smith. This was £150 for materials to paint a large canvas for their living room. It was a great boost after a bad year and I soon spent the money on oil paints and painted out my dad’s unused garage as a studio which was quite good.

The paintings below came from that brief period before I moved to London to be with Ana Fortun who I met on 3rd March 1993 at a friend’s birthday party. I gave the large barn canvas above to Ana when we parted 7 years later but do not have an image of Pete’s canvas sadly and I am not sure if it survived.

The rest of the paintings were ‘saved’ by Laura Stenhouse, an artist friend, who a year later picked them up to stop them getting damaged in the garage when I moved to Edinburgh. I know the Kew Gardens canvas went to Laura who sadly passed away a few years back.  Her husband Bob Lindsay-Smith still has this painting I believe.

kew1

Kew Gardens 0il on canvas 24” x 36”

And this from same batch but painted over.. all dated January- March 1993

barn1

Red Barn oil on canvas 24″ x 24″ 1993

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