This was painted for a friend's 40th. Getting the feeling right was the problem for me here - originally I wanted just a painting of her violin, but I thought this would have been too lifeless, and a bit clichee'd, and after several attempts at getting things right, and lots of scrubbing I hit a wall - I had in effect drawn a blank, I just couldn't make the painting look personal... I then hit upon a figurative idea, and had a bit of a sketching session while Clare was rehearsing for a concert with Burnley Concert Orchestra, this went well.
I had originally thought of making the Clare the main subject, against a dark / featureless background, but as they were going through some drastic changes to their new house I thought it would be fun to make a comment of this. This is relfected in the half-completed breeze-block wall, the tea-towels drying, and the laundry hanging down over the Aga, adding what I thought was a touch of 'reality' to the image. I also did not want to over-glamourise the issue of 'violin practice', hence the blue-hooded top, it is in fact a moment in time captured.The perspective was also important - I wanted everything to lead into the painting and away to the left, and I suppose it takes the viewer on a little trip through Clare and Graeme's half-built kitchen
I'm not sure how the painting has gone down at their household, I know I have had several comments regarding the raw breeze-block wall, I guess I could have painted in the exposed pipe-work, but I thought that may be going too far, and I'm sure Graeme would not have thanked me for that. I just hope they don't mind me putting it on display here...
