I was inspired by an old sepia photograph displayed in the information hut on the cliffs at Highcliffe, Dorset and have painted my interpretation. The area gained its name after a later owner, Lord Stuart de Rothsay who used an old paddle steamer as a site office for the construction of what is now Highcliffe Castle. The old boat was beached in a small inlet and jammed between two large trees in or around 1830. Later the boat became a beach house for about 60 years but fell into disuse and dereliction at the turn of the 20th century. I remember, (as a boy in the 1970's) there was an old ships boiler, only visible at low tide, near to where the current beach ramp comes down to from Highcliffe castle. The location of Steamer Point is usually associated with the locality of the old radar dome about a mile West of this. Whether this boiler slowly drifted to its eventual resting place or was from another vessel I do not know. Today it has either been removed or more likely lies buried under the sea floor just off Highcliffe beach.
'Mousehole'
'Beached'
the Needles
'Poole Quay ' - also this painting is known as ' Duck down the alleyway '. It may not be until you purchase a print you will realise why!
'Cruisin'
'Homeward Bound'
'Tree-tops'
Salad Days
Sunflower Steamer
'South Seas' (landscape)
Not many people are aware that Southsea in the late 14 hundreds was a quite popular holiday resort for the French, who would cross the channel in their wood-burning boats and visit our english chateauxs.
'South seas' ( portrait version, frame not included)
'The visitor'
'Tower Bridge'
"Mudeford Quay ' - an imaginative interpretation of a beautiful place, with a pinch of artist license!
