If I were to paint you a picture…..

If I were to paint you a Pop Art style piece it would burst with bold green Viscounts, reds & yellows of Tunnocks Caramel wafer bars & a huge Arsenal badge.  There'd be a bottle of dry cider or ginger beer,  pear drops in a tin and a Beryl Beavis birthday cake. Or maybe a Warhol-esque Queen Elizabeth portrait or a Lancaster bomber with the DFC medal & Dam Busters scribed in Impact typeface emblazoned across the canvas.


If I were to paint a scene on water it would be a buzzing Dartmouth Regatta, the white cliffs of Dover or the burnt sienna coast of Budleigh Salterton. Maybe the seafarers mission in Felixstowe or I could channel Turner in a seascape oil of warm hues with the red ochre sails of a Thames Barge piercing the sunset sky.


If I were to follow the footsteps of Seurat or Lautrec I'd capture the Masquerade from the Phantom, the melodrama of Les Mis, the acrobatic Jellicle Cats or the Starlights on the stage in a painting just for you. Or maybe a Degas depiction with dancing sisters flinging themselves around your Regent Close living room to the album Abba Gold.


If I were to paint a figure it could be the silhouette of a Fiddler on the Roof, a portrait of Julie Andrews on the hills or on rooftops, Audrey Hepburn surrounded by flowers at the Covent Garden market. Or I could paint you, Nanna. You, poised with your SLR camera, taking time to set up the perfect shot in a National Trust estate. You in a London street, stood by a food cart, surrounded by the smokey haze as you offer coins in exchange for a paper bag full of roasted chestnuts.


If I were to create you a series inspired by Cezanne like his Card Players there'd be considered compositions with battles of Scrabble, Upwords, Solitaire & best of all....Othello! Or a still life of a lovingly laid dinner table with a hostess, napkin rings & an out of place yet perfectly understood copper kettle.


If I were to find a way to feature your friendships I'd take influence from Renoir & paint one of the Tab girls’ garden parties, Palmer's girls’ reunion, or a London lunch with girls from the bank. Maybe simply focus in on you and a friend in company, contemplation and conversation. It could be a display of female strength with Cassatt inspired sisters rolling up their sleeves ready for harvesting, or you, driving a tractor in Chedworth, wallpapering a wall or gently tending to the needs of a child in your care.


If I were to capture your love of nature I'd reflect on Monet & paint the waterlilies at Wateringbury or the spring blooms in your garden and the vegetable patch teaming with juicy red strawberries. All this overlooked by the oracle of an apple tree climbed by generations of cousins, siblings and sons.


If I were to paint you a picture.