12 Years Later

This title is starting to be more appropriate by the hour, partly because the painting took me a while to do, partly because I am delayed in writing its 'Birth Certificate' and mostly because I first drew the Red House 12 years ago.

See, it all makes sense now.

'12 Years later' 30" x 24"

The Reason (or the starting point).

One of my favourite buildings, lived in by a partial hero of mine, William Morris.

The Setting

A short stay in Essex, not far away from the Red House in Bexleyheath - National Trust card in hand and a summer's day too cold to have a picnic.

The Inspiration

The house itself, its setting, its arts and crafts history, its simple attention to detail. The fact I had drawn it before at school. The beautiful light in the studio, the colour and texture of the brick. The fact William Morris had lived there, the artwork of the man himself and his patterns, patterns, patterns.

The idea behind this painting is as simple as it is logical. A depiction of the Red House and the patterns of the man that lived there (albeit briefly). William Morris's patterns were all about nature, flora and fauna so it seemed only natural that the patterns should be confined to the natural elements of this painting and not the building. The building needed to be more grounded and solid than that to provide a contrast.

The patterns aren't as accurately rendered as Morris would have liked, I am sure, but I wanted the painting to be about me as well and still have a bit of expressive laziness in it.

Hmm - Expressive Laziness. I think I might have finally pinpointed my 'style'.