By the Blue Canal

Now that the hot weather has come back to Elwood, I have been painting outside again. Yesterday I was back working by the side of the Elwood Canal. Around 3 pm. schoolchildren from the local Primary School began to pass me on their way home. A couple of perhaps 10-year-old boys were the first to comment. As they passed by my easel, the darker of the two turned and exclaimed: "Wow! AWE-some...!" 

Then a young woman, walking hand-in-hand with her son approached. The little boy looked no more than 3 or 4 years old, a little blond sprite. He sauntered along confidently next to his mother and as he passed by, sang out: "Looking g-OO-d!" with exactly that rising inflection on the last syllable his adult self would have used. 

I felt chuffed. I always listen to and respect the spontaneous opinions of children and afterwards I wrote in my sketchbook: 'In my painting I usually have no preconception of what I want to achieve. I prefer to find my destination through the process of working. It then comes as a revelation, something I am unable to describe but only recognise it when it appears...'

Brushes