Elton John to America!

These two paintings, each measuring 75cm by 60cm are now on their way to the United States of America. Both are inspired by Elton John from a remarkable evening at the AO Manchester Arena on Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday  3rd June 2023…and it was more than alright but with no fighting, thankfully!

Each work is going to clients in America and as Elton resides in the States, it seems fitting that these paintings should be on their way there.

I spent quite some time working out the compositions of these two paintings and I encountered more difficulty in the initial selection of images than normal. Nonetheless, once these paintings were underway (starting with a burnt umber ground) they became resolved quite naturally. I worked on them over a period of about three weeks and found that they just seem to “fall off the brush”. This is a term I use when everything just seems to fall into place and the painting develops without too much anxiety. It does not often happen like this but these two paintings were a joy to work on.

It was a great night and I soon realised that I was witnessing a great performer. This was endorsed the following month when Elton John gave one of the great Glastonbury performances. Huge thanks must go to an amazing band, Davey Johnstone guitar, Ray Cooper percussion, Nigel Olsson drums, Matt Bissonette bass, John Mahon percussion and Kim Bullard keys.

Big thanks to Jacksons Art Suppliers for the canvas and stretcher bars and also to Michael Harding Paints for the oil paint and varnish.