I have an old red ensign hanging in my garden. It came from the chandlery I was once working at. A sailor had bought a new one and discarded the tatty, faded flag as it was not fit for the back of a yacht anymore.
Some years later I took up painting - mainly seascapes to start. This flag kept catching my eye from my studio which opened onto the garden. So, I began to experiment with different techniques and now paint Union flags on almost a weekly basis, selling as far afield as Australia and New Zealand as a reminder of back home.
Some of flag paintings use tatty old jeans for the blue of the Union, sometimes leaving the buttons or a pocket or two for added texture. I then work and re-work the piece until it looks worn and weathered, adding a few holes, and maybe even the odd coffee cup stain for good measure before I varnish several layers for protection. Every finished painting has it's own unique look.
My most recent works have taken the Union Flag and the loss of lives British military lives in Afghanistan since 2001 and combined the two, hopefully raising awareness of all the precious lives lost as well as the respect that I think all military and civilians caught up in conflict.
I am not very politically minded, my slant comes from the lottery of where you are born, the cards you are dealt in life, and the paths we choose.
(% profit donations to 'Help for Heroes' are made on each piece along with donations of paintings to charity auctions)