Lamp Box in a wall...

This sort of Post Box was usually strapped to a lamp post so when I saw one built into a wall as a sort of pillar box I had to get a photo. Around this time - 1990 - I was well into Post Boxes and this one near Ivegill, just south of Carlisle was rarity.

I was also getting to grips with watercolour painting and loved, and still do, weathered textures. This Post Box ticked every box (so to speak) and a painting was born. I have never been able to 'do' foliage as will be evident so the lucky style of wet on wet and wet into dry suited me well.

My tutor at the time was a Northern watercolourist called Edwin Straker who took one look it and said, "The composition is non-existent". I'd hoped he'd notice the clever weathering of the metal edges on the red box or the subtle overlay of colours to represent flaking bricks. Alas no. And he was right as I eventually learned! It's original size is 18" x 14" (Looks better large).

I got better at water colours, slowly, but ran out of time as my day job became more demanding and in 1999 photography with digital cameras eventually took over as my main interest. I'm getting better at that too - even more slowly!!