it, the whole of Woodgrange Road has received a facelift, I suppose in preparation for the start of Crossrail.The footpath has been built up and restored in anticipation of the crowds returning home (to their new ‘luxury’ flats) every evening; facades of buildings have been re-rendered and repainted; the cracked paving slabs replaced with the addition of tasteful cobbles; large tubs containing masses of colourful petunias stand stolidly in the middle of the pavement impeding unaware passersby.

 

In the days when I was returning tired from a hard day's grind, I would look up at the window on a dark winter's evening and my imagination was refreshed. I wondered at the dental equipment all aglow from the surgery, bathed in the cold blue light and although I never spotted any patients sitting in the chair with a dentist hovering over them Laurence Olivier-like as in the movie ‘Marathon Man’, I reflected on Edward Hopper and his voyeuristic interest in half seen lit rooms, an interest of which I share. Intrigued by that moment when it is too gloomy to continue without artificial light but also, too early to draw the curtains or blinds. A magic glow lights the interior and mysterious shadows are created externally where anything or nothing may be happening.

 

Technically night scenes can be quite problematic and I find they take some effort when trying to build up a sense of drama, seeking to achieve both clarity and mystery in the same moment… implying a story although there exists very little in terms of narrative. For me, the work of painters like George Bellows, Algernon Newton and Edward Hopper, all contain that sense of being caught in that pause, a moment which places itself between thought and potential action and where consequences still lie waiting to be born in the future.