This painting was for my son. It is a very large painting and took me months to do. It is about 3-foot high x 2 foot wide. Similar thing, my son sent me a picture of something he would like in his room. His comment was that he liked bums.

When he sent me the picture I told him he has to be kidding. I knew it was a very difficult painting to do but I gave it a go. He came to visit me when I was about halfway through painting it, I had the easel in my lounge room so when he came into the house he could see it straight away. He could not believe it and asked if it was finished so he could take it home. When I said it was not finished and it will take me a while to complete, he was so proud of me. He then went on to tell me that he sent the photo of what he wanted as a bit of a joke as he thought I would never be able to do it. He was blown away that I actually started to paint it and how great it looked.

It now hangs proudly on his bedroom wall.

I started to dabble in painting when I got involved with my local theatre group. I helped them out with props and painting sets and ended up getting myself a small canvas, some brushes and paints. The last time I painted on canvas was in High School. I liked art classes but it was something I never pursued until my 50s. In some ways, it is a form of meditation as you just think about what you are painting and forgot about the other crap that was going on in your life.

The painting was one I did for a very good friend. It was by no means my first as some of them were really crappy but I just enjoyed the process. My friend sent me a picture of something she wanted and I tried to do something similar. This photo does not really do it justice, it looks much better on a wall.

When it was finally finished my friend came around to pick it up. I was very nervous as I thought she would not like it and just take it to make me happy. When she (and her husband) came over they were blown away. They loved it.

They wanted a painting in their son's room as it lacked colour. I was then nervous about whether he would like it. Later that day I got a text from their son saying that he absolutely loved it and called it City sunrise. When I go over to there house and see it hanging in his bedroom it gives me great joy.

This painting was inspired by my trip to the Northern Territory and it I copied this from a photo I took when the sun was rising. I have had it hanging on my wall as I just love the colours.