I was not familiar with Cyprus until relatively recently. This is the name given to a train station on the extreme east of the Docklands Light Railway, an outpost of the former London Docks, on which these days stands a university and where on the opposing quayside, the London City Airport is situated. However the name of the DLR station evoked exotic images and I was not disappointed by the dramatic, spectacular sunsets that prevail over the skyline at this time of year.

 

The area has changed so much over the last sixty years, yet the Tate & Lyle Refinery you see to the rear of the airport still stands, dominating the runway where jets take off and land every few minutes, linking the East End to destinations all over Europe. This is the same place where dock workers used to offload their inanimate cargoes until the 1970’s when the land became a derelict waste ground. Now we have a university, an airport and a conference centre. We also have a huge glass and concrete cube housing the local borough council of Newham, and overlooking it all, dour and uncompromising, reigns the stolid Victorian refinery, having survived bombing carried out during two world wars and countless economic crises including take over bids.

 

Because I'm trying to resolve a group of paintings I have not posted anything for some time. A few of these were works in progress that I exhibited at the Nunnery earlier this year. This painting was display at an earlier stage almost two years ago... and it has since been worked on and resolved with a change of title as a result. I have also started a new series in the hope of exhibiting them at the Townhouse, Spitalfields next year. The push and pull of painting never seems to become any easier; occasionally they are  lost completely as they seem to fall over a cliff edge.

 

This painting was begun in January 2017 and it has been through numerous transformations as you will be able to see if you track back to 06/01/2018 . It was almost scrapped at one point, as it looked so much out of key with the rest of my work.