"The Greatest Discovery"

Oils on Canvas - Diptych 240 x 100 x 4cm

When I started to paint “The Greatest Discovery” I wanted to do something like “Pure Imagination”.  I wanted bright colourful Autumn leaves on the ground in big piles all ready to be jumped in and kicked up in the air, it doesn’t matter how old we get I don’t think that feeling really leaves us.  I also wanted a path to walk on and a bridge to play “poo sticks” from.

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I am Dyslexic, as you can probably tell reading this and am determined not to use AI/ Chat.  I don’t like reading books, someone recommended Audiobooks, so I listened to Elton John’s Autobiography.  I always listen to music while painting and decided I was going to submerge myself into Elton John and only listen to Elton’s songs when working on this piece, and that’s where the painting started to come to live.

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I would listen to  “Rocketman”, “Tiny Dancer” and all the hits on repeat, I could feel the power of the music vibrating though the canvas, giving the painting its energy and that’s when it happened.  I had on my mind the question “how can I make the tree bark and patterns different” I was sitting in my chair starring at the Trees, “Crocodile Rock” was playing and I saw that one of the trees was shaped like a Crocodile.  It answered my question, I could paint animal patterns on the trees, merge patterns in nature together.

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I see the trees as people in the crowd at a concert, arms in the air swaying and singing to the songs and feeling the music, leopard print just felt right, adding a little Rock and Roll.  The path obviously looked like a snake with its tail sliding over the bridge.  I had already painted the “Funky Pigeon” Tree (which was based on a Pigeon that crossed my path as I was walked through London one day, near The National Gallery, the colours on its neck were shining so brightly) and thought it would clash having the two patterns overlapping so decided to have the snake shed it skin as it slithered away.

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There is so much more to say about this painting, like “Pure Imagination” and “Autumn Sunlight”, I have added Cats in the leaves, but with this painting there are also some Dogs and a Dinosaur.

The title “The Greatest Discovery” came from the title of one of Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s songs with the same name.  I hadn’t heard this song before, but having exhausted all the hits, I started to listen to some Live albums, which brought fresh new songs for me to listen to.  On the Album “Live From The Rainbow Theatre With Ray Cooper” which was recorded in 1977 but released in 2025.  “The Greatest Discovery” is the opening track, it’s about a young boy, toddler who wakes up one morning hearing strange sounds in his house, the sounds of his new born brother, for some reason it took my breathe away and some wet stuff appeared in my eyes as it reminded me of the time my youngest Son was born and my eldest Son, who was 3 years old at the time, was sitting in a massive chair at the hospital proudly holding his new little brother in his arms.