Stories (MAJOR UPDATE SOON)

This is one of the most requested sections on my website, I will try to rotate the stories on a regular basis but some are pages and pages long, e-mail any requests for stories and I will try and include them here.

'Someone to see you...'
Oil on Canvas ©2007 Peter Smith

How often have you felt out of place when you feel singled out and everybody is watching your every move?

Maybe it takes you back to being summoned to see the headmaster at school, or even more recent when an unexpected message to see the boss makes you break out in a sweat. We have all been there at some point and you tend to feel like this little vulnerable character in my painting, you shuffle your feet and bend your head forward slightly almost shielding yourself from that inward knot in your stomach that you feel.

But hold your head up high, take a deep breath and proudly march to your destiny...

'Naughty But Nice '

Why is everything that cries ‘eat me’ bad for you? As I hit middle age and the waistline suddenly expands overnight you find it’s tougher to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are *really* good friends, this particular dilemma raises its head most days. You feel guilty about thinking of eating something so nice, you feel bad about eating it after it is gone.

One bite will not work and one cake is really not enough…

Who will know if I just have this one?

'The Moon and Back'

To follow your dreams you need to make a journey, you make this journey over time or in your head but both can change your life for good.

Think of your greatest fear and biggest achievement, both are at the edges of our feelings so now imagine the gap between the two getting smaller, see how the feelings are similar? Maybe that your ‘Moon’ of the impossible dream you always had is not really that far away…

'Bunny my Honey'

At the end of the journey you are finally 'there', grab your innocence you remember as a child with both hands and give it a great big hug, it’s a feeling that’s lost far too quickly, this time though you will never let it go. Will you?

'When Boy meets Girl'

The first meeting between childhood sweethearts; a gentle touch of hands over the garden fence, that coy little sparkle in each other’s eyes...

When boy meets girl, because sometimes dreams can come true.

‘We are family’

The global portrait; a family unit in the middle of a wilderness that radiates warmth and love complete with a child whose only interest is in his latest toy… sound familiar?

A huggable piece that I had hanging in my house for many months and found so difficult to part with. It’s almost a reflection on my own childhood, a time when security was family, Christmas was magical and birthdays were jelly and ice cream…
This was the only piece that I have cried at when I finished it; capturing a time long gone, remembering a feeling forgotten, we are family…

‘You’re Beautiful’

Alternative title, ‘I never planned growing old without you’

Imagine your happiest feeling, the warmest day, the most contented time in your life… You’re Beautiful.

‘That old devil called love’

Don’t you think cupid plays some wicked tricks? Maybe he has an alter ego that fires arrows on his behalf just for fun, well here he is exposed! For all those blind dates that are just plain wrong to all those lousy boy or girlfriends in your life you now have somebody to blame!

‘Are we there yet?’

The plaintive cry from a million children… you can almost imagine the bunny tugging on the ear of his ride every five minutes. The inspiration for this piece came from two places, the first was a gallery visit when a young boy was very, very bored that his mummy and daddy were talking to the artist (me!) for an awfully long time and complained whilst rolling around on the floor, ‘I’m bored, are we done yet!’. Just that image alone conjured many a picture but that night I watched Shrek 2 and rolled around laughing at Donkey annoying Shrek with a ‘popping’ sound, so combining them both we have ‘Are we there yet?’. Incidentally the rabbit in the picture is a soft toy I have that makes an excellent model to paint!

‘Spirit of '66’
Or Hope, Passion and Glory

Glory on the right represents the four goals (one for each stripe!) that won the World Cup in ’66 for England, Passion in the middle needs no explanation; emblazoned with St George’s cross he is the icon of passion. Hope is the future and embodies the spirit we need to get that little bit extra and maybe even win!

‘The Biggest Fan’

Everyone knows a football clubs biggest fan, somebody who eats, breathes and lives for football, no matter what club or which league the biggest fan will be there come rain or shine. For all those die hard fans, for all those that have rescheduled family events around matches and all those that chant on the terraces – this biggest fan is for you.

‘Heading for Glory’

A key place in time, when it seems like the whole world (represented by the ball) holds its breath – Will it go in? Will it be deflected? - it’s almost like the movies bullet time effect when the camera will freeze the picture and spin completely round the player before showing you the result; it only lasts seconds but can turn a game on its head and bring tears of joy or tears of sorrow.

‘I Never Touched 'Im!’

The skies darken, you hear a low rumble of thunder and from the end of the pitch an almost Goliath like figure motions you towards him. Slowly you realise that this time there will be no argument. ‘I never touched ‘im!’ you plead but already you know the answer…

Only one word would trigger where this particular memory came from… Beckham!

The referee though is based on a good friend of mine called John, who in real life is not half as menacing as this chap looks (and he’s not got stripes!)

‘You'll Never Walk Alone’

My earliest memories of football starts with my first ever visit to a match with my Dad, an event that many people will remember, it certainly never left me. It was a rainy miserable day and we stood soaked on the terraces at a Notts County match and although there was less than 500 there the atmosphere, sights and sounds never really left me and it was made into a very special day when I won the halftime raffle and walked away with my own signed ball – I hugged it all the way home! As we left the ground I remember my dad pulling me towards him, protecting me from the crowds leaving through the gates and I knew everything would be fine.