Pencil drawing of the backs of a group of semis in Meanwood. I think the lodges series is finished now that I’ve painted each one at least once, and made the zine, so I’m going to do a few little things this autumn and then start another big series in January.

John Atkinson Grimshaw was a master of moonlit streets and mist-draped docks, a painter who captured the very texture of the Victorian dream. His cityscapes, illuminated by the soft glow of gaslight, startled viewers with their precision and poetry, scenes where realism met reverie. Though

A pair of framed Lodge paintings - I’m getting these ready for an exhibition submission Lodges built for Weetwood Villa and Weetwood Filter Beds, Leeds. Acrylic, 30 x 41 cm each.

Framing a selection of this year’s lodge paintings

Lodge, Ash Crescent, Headingley This lodge is interesting because it was moved from its original location on North Lane in 1908, and rebuilt (still as a lodge) 100 yards away. The lodge was originally built to serve two houses, Headingley House and Headingley Lodge, both of them now demolished.

I’m very pleased to be part of this group exhibition at Gage Gallery, Kelham Island, Sheffield, starting next Saturday 11th - thank you to curators Ruth Heaton and @seanwilliamsartist.bsky.social for inviting me to be part of it www.artrabbit.com/events/simul...

I have copies available of a limited edition zine, with my paintings from this year of the Victorian gatehouses in Headingley

In progress in the studio - lodge for Headingley House, Headingley, Leeds

Lodge: St Ann’s Tower, Kirkstall Lane, Headingley A small stone building, easily missed, but if you get the train to Headingley station for the rugby or the cricket, you’ll walk past it. Acrylic on canvas, 46 x 61 cm

Can anyone recommend a book covering contemporary #printmaking ? There’s lots of exciting stuff going on, but I’ve not managed to find any recent surveys or catalogues.

'Sherry Bar Portrait', Ravenscourt Arms, Hammersmith (c.1964) by Ruskin Spear (Private collection)

Lodge: Kirkstall Grange This lodge, at the junction of Otley Road and St Chads Drive (which leads up to Beckett University) is one of my favourites, because it exhibits perfectly the classic features of the genre - small, with tall elaborate chimneys, and steep roofs with carved bargeboards.

Halifax, 1937, photo by Bill Brandt.

In progress. I’m happy with this composition because it demonstrates just how small this lodge is, and puts it in the context of the sort of building I more usually paint.

“Goodison Park” Acrylic and crayon over monotype 2025 55cm x 39cm This part of Everton was saved from the planners’ wrecking ball and I was rather moved by the long lines of terraced houses, each ending in the walls of the stadium - wrapped with huge photos of the club’s players. #art

In progress this morning - lodge for St Ann’s Tower, on Kirkstall Lane in Headingley, Leeds

Hebden Bridge in the snow, 1978, photo by Denis Thorpe.

A pair of paintings recently finished - lodges for Fox Hill and Spenfield. Weetwood, Leeds. Acrylic on canvas.

‘Saturday sun, Sunday rain’ A pair of paintings from December 2023 Oil on board, 46 x 61 cm each

“Another World” 17-29 September Everyman Theatre Liverpool My first solo exhibition is now open at the Everyman Theatre, in their 1st floor exhibition space. Please do come and see it if you are able. All the work is available to buy, and prices for originals start at £220. #liverpool #art

A pair of paintings from two years ago - shops in Headingley, Leeds - the backs and the fronts of the same shops Oil on board, 61 x 91 cm each

Two paintings in progress this morning - lodges in Weetwood, Leeds

Painting in progress - lodge built for Spenfield, on Otley Road, Weetwood, Leeds

'Timber Yard, Leeds.' (c1915) Urban subjects were Charles Ginner's special contribution to the language of the Camden Town Group of painters - it represented a determined effort by painters to explore new ways of representing the everyday realities of life in Edwardian Britain.

Our inland waterways are green and blue corridors, winding quietly often through industrial and urban landscapes. Once the very arteries of the Industrial Revolution, they now offer something gentler: an escape. Just a stone’s throw from bustling towns

Painting in progress - the lodge for Fox Hill in Weetwood, Leeds

Pair of paintings from 2023 of a street in Meanwood - I like how the practical architecture of the backs of houses can be more interesting aesthetically than the fronts Oil on canvas, 61 x 76 cm each

Another one from a couple of years ago - street in Meanwood, Leeds - oil on canvas, 36 x 46 cm, 2023

A painting of houses in Meanwood, Leeds from a couple of years ago - oil on board, 36 x 46 cm

Work in the studio - lodge paintings

Something from a few years ago - Café on Meanwood Road, Leeds Oil Oil on canvas, 61 x 76 cm, 2022

Church Street, Leeds, 1970, photo by Peter Mitchell.

In this version of John Atkinson Grimshaw’s Roundhay Lake/ (from Castle) the view is taken from the ivy-fringed battlements of the park’s ornamental “castle.” Built as a summerhouse and belvedere, the ruin offered sweeping vistas across the landscape. As the Leeds Mercury noted,

Something from 2022 - red-brick terraces in Kirkstall, Leeds

An article of mine about my lodge paintings is now on the New English Art Club website www.newenglishartclub.co.uk/news/130-gin...

The lodge for Grosvenor House, on Grosvenor Road in Hyde Park - acrylic on board, 30 x 41 cm

I want to do something with the lodge paintings I’m making this year - an exhibition, a book, or something. I wondered about making what photographers and printers call a zine (although I was a teenager in the late 70s and early 80s, and to my mind a zine has a more punk, handmade aesthetic)…

Something from a couple of years ago - a pair of semi-detached houses on Queenswood Drive in Kirkstall. I made this in February 2022 and I was interested in the mists and the low winter light, with the brick still somehow appearing warm.

The lodge for Weetwood Mount, Far Headingley - watercolour drawing and acrylic painting. A late Victorian building with steep roofs and wooden bargeboards.

Group of six lodge paintings in the studio - the bottom two are in progress. Acrylic on canvas and on board, 30 x 41 cm each

Haworth, Yorkshire, 1964, painting by Bradford-born Richard Eurich (1903-92). #NorthernArt

Interesting article from The Guardian ‘There’s something very interesting about boring’: Martin Parr on his life in pictures. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Rainy day in Oldham, 1950s (Greater Manchester Police Museum).

A pair of lodge paintings recently finished - for Headingley Castle, on Headingley Lane, and further out for Weetwood Mount, on Otley Road Acrylic on canvas, 51 x 76 cm

Train leaving Newcastle upon Tyne station, 1937, photo by Bill Brandt.

Park-keeper’s lodge, Woodhouse Moor - watercolour drawing

Lodge painting in progress - Weetwood Mount Lodge on Otley Road Watercolour Acrylic on canvas

Work in progress (centre) surrounded by recent paintings - lodges in Headingley

Paul Nash belonged to the very diverse generation of British modern artists who went to the Slade and included Stanley Spencer, Ben Nicholson, and Dora Carrington. 'Wood on the Downs,' (c1929) features Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire; a gratifying picture of Englishness.

Sunbathing canal-side in Ashton-under-Lyne during the hot summer of 1975,photo by Stephen Dowle.