The Oxford Canal, by Paddock Farm

Oil on Board 10 x 14 inches

I originally painted this as a demonstration piece last year and now finished off in the studio. That lovely, rusty, sunlit roof of the barn was the hook for this one as I was standing on a bridge over the canal, hence the elevated viewpoint.The canal of course takes the eye on a little journey, down into the shadowy area of water with the moored narrowboat just before the next bridge, and on to the distant hills. My old warhorse car is also in the picture, parked up on the road near the bridge.

Canals have always been a fascination for me - as a boy, I spent a lot of my days with my friend Michael Clifton, fishing for Gudgeon and Roach by the Oxford Canal at Bodicote, watching the now almost extinct Water Voles as they paddled furiously along the water margins, in and out of the Arrowheads, Reeds and Yellow Water Lilies. The water was always an ochre colour, constantly stirred up by the plethora of water craft lazily chugging up the canal, and the water in this picture was no exception, which adds a new dynamic to the painting, especially on a sunny day like this one, when the shadows across the water are all the more distinct - lovely for an artist!