Why I Paint
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All of these paintings were painted out of doors - they are my attempts to record a scene as accurately as possible in a limited amount of time. I painted them because, by some mysterious process, paintings often seem to record the atmosphere of a place better than a photograph can.  I don't know why this happens. Whenever I try to improve a painting later on, or make a copy, it never works. Somehow, the splodges of colour never go in the right places. However, when one is painting in the open air the paint seems to go in the right places to record what is there and how it feels to be there.  It's easy - just use a brush that is too big to record the detail.

I like to paint places which have been unchanged for many generations. This could be anything from a remote landscape to an old city centre.  What I enjoy most is to paint a scene showing a traditional way of life, such as a village in a less developed part of the world.  These places can have a huge emotional impact and they are a part of our heritage.   In fact, people who follow a traditional way of life are often happier than the rest of us.  It seems sad to me that so many beautiful places are being turned into golf courses and Holiday Inns.