EAST KENT SCHOOL

"This group of friends have been painting companions since - Jehan Daley since before - the way. Gordon Davies has seen me through many problems because not only is he a fne and skilled painter, but he is possessed of great imagination and a highly irreverent sense of humour, and also a down-to-earth practicality, a quality I sadly lack. So often he has supplied the ginger to the pudding of my painting. 

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Gerald Norden is my constant critic and at all stages of a picture I turn to him for approval. He was senior to me at the RCA, a fact which I never forget!"

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"Throughout my career, whenever I have got into a jam over a picture, I have sought the aid of Jehan Daley." 

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I worked on the picture from 1985 to 1987. Where, as with this picture, there is no financial necessity to finish a painting because it is not a commissioned work, you can drop it when you come to a problem.

 

It helped enormously that I had known the sitters so long. I knew their form and relished the task. Painting those three heads was like a pianist playing a favourite piece. They were heads I had drawn so often that it was a great pleasure to paint them yet again.

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