Painting #Cityscapes #Manchester

Had an interesting time recently sorting out my storeroom and moving some of my older paintings to another room.

It seems strange that there are so many painters nowadays doing cityscapes. In the late 70's and early 80's this wasn't a popular topic. I spent many an hour capturing these scenes and was even threatened with arrest, by a security guard in Bolton, who must have thought I was planning industrial espionage. It shows how tastes change over the years and different themes become popular.  

The paintings are of the Manchester Arndale centre before a complete face-lift changed it into it's present layout. Many of the shops have been replaced by other outlets. The large seating area in the square has gone as well as the escalators. 

I suppose that these scenes would now be considered as part of Manchester's history.

On an interesting note; some of the studies that I did for these paintings are on show at the Cornerstone, Langworthy Road Salford until the end of April.  If you are in the area , why not check them out!