‘I’M STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS’
David talks us through eight of the paintings on display in the retrospective
Two Girls on the Shore, oil on board, 1963, 122x122cm
Taking the pictures in date order, David’s first selection was made just before he left Hull for London. It’s a painting of David’s first wife Jacqueline and their friend Rosemary on a beach at Spurn Point, which stretches across the Humber Estuary. ‘It’s oil on board because I didn’t have the money for canvas,’ says David. ‘There was a little sketch done there and then. These figures weren’t in this way. This is the way I felt it needed to be painted. And they were nithered [Yorkshire for freezing!]. It was really cold – that’s the North Sea!’
Ronettes, oil on board, 1964, 152x106.5cm
This is one of several paintings of the 1960s vocal group. The Ronettes were seen as ‘bad girls’ at the time, and David can always spot a fellow rebel when he sees one.