Father and Brother in the Farmyard

Painted from 21st November - 27th December, 2012

Size: 24 inches x 18 inches

Acrylics on canvas

This is based on a photo taken in summer 1994. This is a deeply personal work. My father, who was a tillage farmer, and younger brother are standing in front of the Mercedes Benz tractor with a Berthoud sprayer mounted on the back. My father had recently bought the sprayer; it's wider arms and bigger tank covered more ground in less time than the old one. Like his father Dan, my father, Tim, was a forward thinking man in terms of machinery. I took my time with this one. Difficult areas were the front wheel of the tractor especially the ridges , my father's shirt, face and head ( I had to completely redo his head and face cos the head was too small in the first attempt), and the sprayer's arms at an acute angle. The machinery and my father are long gone and my brother is now as tall as my father was in this painting. The time feels like a different age to me. A line from the film, 'Blade Runner', was in my head as I was working on this piece:

'All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain'.