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Painting Information

1) Shadows of the Past, Rennes   
1984   Oil on Panel, 183 x 244 cm
Scottish Arts Council Collection, transferred to Highland Region

2) War Games  
1986   Oil on Panel, 122 x 213 cm
Edinburgh City Collection

3) They Said the War was Partly to Blame  
1986   Oil on Panel, 213 x 244 cm
Collection of the Artist

4) TV Dinners    
1991   Oil on Panel, 213 x 244 cm
Glasgow City Collection

A First Response

Current events and images of war affect me deeply. As a child growing up in the post war years I was very aware of the deprivations and the ugliness of war through the psychological disruptions they continued to generate in my family. My Father died in 1972, my mother in 1983 and it was at this juncture that I reflected on the family history and ventured to unIock the Pandora's Box.

I completed my first war painting in 1984, based on a visit to Rennes during Liberation remembrances. Concurrent with this, I was working on a series of paintings featuring my family and Footdee and I also started going to war museums in London and to any open days on warships visiting Aberdeen Harbour. From 1985 to 1990 the majority of the work was nautical in flavour due to my surroundings. The Gulf War and subsequent Bosnian War provided new material.