This painting shows the ginnel (alley) behind the street I used to live on. I went there last week in the rain, for no particular reason other than I was nearby. I set myself the challenge of trying to paint, without exaggeration, the flat grey light of a grey street on a rainy day. Dreich, to use a good Scots word. There are no trees and you can’t really tell if the scene before you is summer or winter. The grass and slime on the stone is bright green year round. When l lived there I used to say the reason I knew it was summer was the snails climbing up the windows. I like the way the wheelie bins have to be carefully parked in order not to roll away down the steep slope. I’m not sure if the painting is finished or not so I’ve propped it up in my studio to observe it for a while.
