At Bet's, June 1986

 

 Bet was my gran (8th Feb1929-16th March 1994).  I spent at least half my childhood at Bet's house. I'm not sure that it was planned that way.  At first I only visited when we (my mum and me) came up to Sale (just outside Manchester) from where we lived which was sometimes Portsmouth and at other times London.  We finally moved to Longsight, Manchester in 1977 and the following year Bet got very ill with Crohn's disease.  There was a point where it was believed she wouldn't live for much longer however she did pull through although it took her a year to get out of hospital and another year to get back to work.  During this time we visited her several times a week at the hospital and when she finally got back home, we spent every weekend and holiday there.  My mum stopped doing the whole weekend visits, just coming on a Sunday.  I continued with the weekend and holiday visits and even started to stay two nights a week for a while because my mum started night school.  I ended up with my own bedroom and it was basically a second (or you could say main) home. 

At Bet's, June 1986, Oil painting on board 122cmx100cm

This painting shows a weekend moment in June 1986.  On sunny, warm days we would often have the French window open which I loved because it was like bringing the garden into the house.  There weren't really many other days that year that were warm enough to do that with summer 1986 turning out to be particularly wet and cold.



Τολό

Τολό or in English letters Tolo is a small seaside town in the south western Peloponnese of Greece.  The first time I went to this place was 1999 while studying with the British School at Athens.  It is near the oldest intact bridge in the world (c.1300BC) and still used by the locals.  We visited the usual places nearby, Mycenae and Epidauros and later went out for a meal in Tolo where our hotel was.  I finished eating long before anyone else and went straight back to the hotel swimming pool.  Lovely experience having a pool all to yourself at night, floating face up looking at the stars.  I returned to Tolo in August 2014 with my family.  My girls loved the relaxed Greek atmosphere and the tavernas that sit right next to the sea. 

This painting captures a moment where my oldest daughter is looking out at sea.  She is happiest when she is swimming in the and snorkelling, which she will do all day without a break.  Here is a rare moment when she was not in the sea albeit briefly.



τολό, oil painting on board, 122cm x 100cm

Preliminary drawing, A3