In 1991 while drawing in San Gimignano, an elderly man sat down to chat and invited me to lunch the next day. I accepted his invitation- I reckoned I was safe enough as he was in his late seventies! He lived in a tiny two-roomed flat on the main narrow street, and the minute I walked in I knew I had my next series of paintings ‘ Dino -The Red Chair ‘ is in my personal collection it epitomizes that trip. I also became friends with Carlo the local barber, the inspiration for ‘The Barber of San Gimignano ‘ When I passed by Carlo’s shop he ‘d always ask if I needed a lift back to Santa Lucia and order one of his elderly customers to drive me home.
During many of these trips to San Gimignano I stayed in Apartment Margarita. It was the perfect accommodation as the interior had not been touched since the original occupants left, and I was thus surrounded by family photographs, crucifixes, book and paintings.
‘The bed’ depicts the main bedroom; with its saggy mattress, it seemed to me to be the centre-point of the house, where people had come into and left the world .
La Bella Toscana
30cm x 30cm - Oil on Canvas - 2005
The Barber of San Gimignano
76cm x 81cm - Oil on Canvas - 2000
The Bed
76cm x 81cm - Oil on Canvas - 1998
Cloisters
20cm x 20cm - Oil on Board - 2005
Dino -The Red Chair
40cm x 40cm - Oil on Canvas - 1991