Paintings

My painting has changed drastically over the last couple of years, from hard edge to free, expressionism. I like to work quickly and standing up if I can.

Here is a little story for you.  It relates to the work The Tontine Charm. The work was produced for an exhibition at The Brewery Tap in Folkestone.

The Tontine Charm

Now listen up and I will tell you a story. A story from a long, long time ago when Folkestone was just a little fishing village.

It is said that the number 108 is a very special number and it is connected to good fortune and success.  People in India consider 108 to be a very auspicious number, but that is a story for another time.

Let’s get back to our story about Folkestone.  One day in early spring a flock of rare black finches descended upon a line of trees in a road known as Tontine Street. (A flock of finches is also called a charm.) The young wife of a local fisherman was delighted by the birds and each day she would visit them.  She brought crumbs and seeds and small pieces of fruit with which to feed the black finches. Every day for a whole month she came and fed them. She sat and counted the noisy little birds. It was a hard thing to do because they kept hopping from branch to branch. She thought that there were 108 birds.

It was on a beautiful morning that the fisherman’s wife arrived in Tontine Street but was sad to see that every one of the birds had gone. Never did they return.  The fisherman and his wife lived a long and happy life and indeed they both lived until they were 108.  People said they had a charmed life and some people said that because of her kindness to the finches, the birds had given her and her husband the precious gift of long life.  People spoke about the birds often and they became known as the Tontine Charm.