My previous painting (Across the Lagoon) took about two months of sequential work from initial idea to completion; this one has been two years. In February 2022 I spent over a week drawing and working on the basic idea; I lost my way with it, then briefly returned to it in June. I got it to a point where it was OK, definitely viable, but something about it wasn’t really exciting me. I parked it up and moved on to other projects. This happens all the time - it’s all part of the creative process; sometimes you just do a lot of work that leads nowhere.

Fast-forward to the week before Christmas 2023: I was trawling back through some old files and dug this out, and suddenly I saw it with fresh eyes. Over a couple of days between Christmas and New Year I changed some of the figures to alter the narrative, and suddenly it all clicked into place.

Painting this bright sunlit image certainly lightened the gloom of January!