‘Lunch on the grass’ (2012) oil on linen, 76.3 x 101.7 cm

A group portrait depicting Constance Walker (my mother), myself and daughter Sophie Walker as a small child, plus Harry and Mary Walton - old friends of my parents. Their daughter Valerie was a childhood friend. Harry knew my father because they both worked on Grimsby's fish dock. Harry was a lumper - a man who unloaded fish from trawlers. Constance and the Waltons must have been paying a visit to London during a holiday because the setting is the rear garden of a rented flat at 8 St John’s Grove, Holloway circa 1968 or 69. The dog in the background is a pure invention. The picture is based on a family album type photograph that was taken by either my father Albert or by my wife Margaret. The open air subject, of course, was one favoured by the Impressionists and the scene appealed to me because of the complexity of tones resulting from the summer sunlight and cast shadows.