60 x 50cm
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Painting of Cardiff Bay in Blues

A slightly larger painting of Cardiff Bay in blues and featuring Penarth Esplanade and Pier. St. David’s Hotel is on the left. The ship at the bottom right represents the Shaw Savill Lines "Drina" on which my family sailed to South America in the seventies - leaving me in Cardiff. Another of my Dad’s ships, Furness Withy’s "S.S. Pacific Northwest" can be seen in the Bute dock behind the Wales Millennium Centre. Ships, a common theme in my paintings, represent homecoming as the family is once again complete.

However, the completeness is transient, ships set sail again and though Pacific Northwest is in dock, the Drina is sailing away from Cardiff. The Castle class locomotive is also taking away loved ones to the lost lands of England.

Note that the Norwegian Church is in its original position in Bute West Dock. The tug which seems to be plonked onto dry land was an exhibit of the Industrial and Maritime Museum, which stood on the site - likewise the yellow Westland Whirlwind helicopter. The Museum has since relocated to Swansea.

The "crayon scribble" clouds form a band at the very top of the painting in a nod to the way children will often paint a blue line at the top of a painting to represent "the sky" and a green line at the bottom to represent "the ground".

Toy cars travel Cardiff’s roads. A toy lorry leaves the brewery. The tug, helicopter and the blue crane look like toys, as do the boats in the bay.

A Hornby model "Cardiff Castle" pulls all two coaches of the Red Dragon as the express hurtles toward London. Two coaches was all I had but I loved that train. I still have it but no track on which to run. I wonder if it still works?