As regular visitors know my artistic guideposts, such as they are, are the ghost of Edward Hopper and the spirit of the still-alive-last-time-I-checked Jeffrey Smart.

(Edit from the future, specifically 26 May 2023: Smart died on 20 June 2013, in Arezzo, Italia, in south eastern Toscana (Tuscany). That's a long, long way from his birthplace of Adelaide in time, culture and distance... and quite some way from me writing this comment, almost 10 years after it happened and more than 11 after this shot was taken. If I've been back here since Smart's death, I doubt that it's been more than once or twice, yet at one time this was my go to place for shopping.)

I'm therefore drawn to urban scenes which don't necessarily contain a lot of people, but which have clearly been influenced by the people who created a place, and who live, work or pass through it on a regular basis.

This is not to say that I'm nailing the images in which the two aforementioned artists had some influence, nor that I'm deluding myself in thinking that my shots can be compared to their work... but it would be remiss of me not to at least try to get a flavour of that influence now and then.

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