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Roof trusses


Taking pictures of roof-lights in factories, one can't help but notice the lattice-like things in the way, holding the whole lot up. Turns out they are called trusses. I've been living with a painting most of my life since I was about 20 years old when Dawn Ledger, a fine art student, generously gifted me one after her third year show at Nottingham Polytechnic. I think pity may have been involved or the hassle of relocating a whole show's worth. It's travelled me with since. My awareness of roof trusses this year brings associations with her painting.

I think she was influenced by some early 20th Century French painter, with a breezy handling of the paint and leaving some areas of the canvas left untouched, as if it were not relevant to be concerned with providing a full account, either of the scene or of finishing a picture - which in this case was a series made at the swimming baths at Sneinton.