Sunday Afternoon In The Park

Since I start painting I’ve never looked at shadows so much. I love strolling around a cemetery under an evening sunset with hundreds of headstones casting shadows many times their height.

When I saw this black and white photograph I liked the shadows so much I thought I’d try to do a painted version. I like the way the shadows link up, also the era it was taken in - look at the coats, gloves and shoes.

I’ve made up the background but tried to paint the people and shadows (I think I’ve done the shadows too dark.) I wasn’t sure what to put in the background but I often saunter though public parks and am glad people still use them.

The girl is holding hands with the two women. I can remember holding my mum and dads hands like this and them swinging me forward in the air. Once I was holding my mum’s hand and I saw Gilly (Darren Gill) down the lane and pulled my hands out of hers. I can’t remember holding it again. My dad’s hand seemed like a shovel. Most men seemed big then. I can remember going playing squash with my dad when I was a lad and in the showers afterwards I thought I’d entered the Vipers and Mambas section at Blackpool Zoo.

This was a “MTM” painting in that when I Mixed Too Much paint for another canvas I put it on this one. Like all the paintings the pleasure is in the doing and once they’re done I don’t look at them again. Another one for stacking in the attic and you always have put paintings on their sides or they stick together.

Belle looks terrorised by it…

If in doubt eat an apple…

I like these shadows….