Bromley Historic Collections

One of my overwhelming feelings in the recent lockdown, was that of nostalgia. By nature,I tend to think about the past, but the never ending sense of time took me back to myschool holidays in the 1970s. I started to get inspired about the mundane suburban southLondon life of my youth; the high street gossip of my mother, the shopkeepers and theplayground rumours. These, possibly still exist in fading, collective memories, but as Istarted to paint I realised that most of the things I remembered had never been recorded.Although my childhood was taking place in the 1970s, it seemed as though I was living in aplace from another time populated by ‘busybody’ old ladies in fur coats. It was all quitesafe and boring, but this came at the expense of inspiration. There were no galleries, nomuseums, and being cut-off from the tube network; everything was 9 miles away up intown.

Bowie had famously hidden away in Beckenham, but if you wanted to do anything you hadto do as the ‘Bromley Contingent’ did and just get out!So, the irony is: I find myself many years later, inspired to paint the everyday life ofEscaping in Suburbia.

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