Memories of Cheshire

Limited Edition print: £69

As a finale to painting Cheshire towns, I thought I could try and paint the whole county in one picture! I imagined the result would be like my town pictures, but be made up of buildings and landmarks from all the towns. Once I started the project in 1993 I revised my approach because the amount of open space was so much greater than the built up area I felt bound to reflect this in the composition. That's why this picture has ended up quite green! The process of taking photos of everything of interest in an English county was quite daunting, but by pawing over maps and guides I gradually managed to get to see all the villages, towns and landmarks, (and canals and radio telescopes) that Cheshire has to offer. Each settlement I included in the composition was itself a miniature capriccio painting containing the most prominent buildings. The end result is more like an illustrated map than my other pictures. The process of creating this image was quite an eye-opener for me as an area I thought I knew reasonable well turned out to be full of surprises. A memorable summer 1993.