In Frame

Detail

Acrylic on wood panel, Image: 34.7 x 30.4 x 0.6 cm, Frame: 50.6 x 40.7 x 3.5 cm, created 2022.

“Red Sails in the Sunset” was a popular son published in 1935, its music was written by Hugh Williams (pseudonym of Wilhelm Grosz) with lyrics by prolific songwriter Jimmy Kennedy. The song was inspired by the “red sails” of Kitty of Coleraine, a yacht Kennedy often saw off the northern coast of Northern Ireland and by his adopted town of Portstewart, a seaside resort in County Londonderry.

As well as liking this song it has another interest for me, I spent two years in the late 1990’s trying to be a lobster fisherman, and my boat the Golden Sovereign had a red mizzen sail, I was terrible at the job but loved the life.

The colours and shapes in this piece came easily to me. The layout was inspired by the prints of Terry Frost when I found a book on his work in a charity shop about the same time.