This panoramic painting, which depicts the Liverpool Waterfront, was completed in a couple of sessions today following a prolonged hiatus post-inception. It was painted from photographs taken on a late winter/early spring day in 2013 at a vantage point somewhere between New Brighton and Birkenhead, looking over the Mersey.

I had a couple of sessions on this painting in late 2013, before leaving it indefinitely. The unfinished canvas, which measures approximately 50 x 120cm (around 20″ x 47″), spent most of the intervening period in a cupboard. Though at the time I was not really equipped to do so, I naively thought on this painting’s commencement that I could complete it fairly quickly. I suspect that when I realised that this was not the case, the prospect of spending weeks or even months on this piece probably sapped my enthusiasm, leading to its cupboard incarceration.

During the intervening 18 months I have developed a faster and more enjoyable approach to painting. This painting was returned to the easel today in the knowledge that I could complete it satisfactorily in one or two days at most. Begun in alkyds in 2013, I decided to complete the painting today in Daler-Rowney Georgian oils, which gave me more scope for moving paint around once it was on the canvas.