‘Pauline at King’s College circa 1958', (2012). Oil on linen. 3 x 4 feet

The entrance to the University Art Department at King’s College, Newcastle upon Tyne was immediately to the right after passing through the arches in the centre of the painting. A printed textile studio was located on the first floor above the arches and its windows afforded a view of King’s Walk and students coming and going to the student union building depicted on the left. It was one evening in King’s Walk that I accosted Pauline Armstrong (1938-2000), a fellow art student when she emerged from the Art Department and declared my affections. Her reaction was to seek refuge in the female toilet of the union building! It took some months before we became friends. The black Morris Minor car in the left-hand corner was significant in that Edwin Beecroft and I travelled as passengers in such a car to the Brussels’ World Fair and to the South of France in 1958. All the buildings on the right of the picture have since been demolished.