Make My Day by Paul Horton

So much to see and take in here, with this new limited edition 'Make My Day' for Autumn 2019 and this is on the paper version.

I love the sepia, gold and almost sandy hues that Paul has painted here, whether that be the front of the houses or the roofs, which blend perfectly with road colour; notice the sky itself goes from a soft blue colour and descends towards a beautiful pinkish-brown shade, as it meets the horizon.

A welcome return for the Go Karts as well, last seen I believe way back in 2013 with the limited edition: 'Go Play Up Your Own End.'

In fact there seems to be several modes of transport here including the Go Kart, the push bike and does a children's pram count? lol

Did you notice the street lamp is there outside the blue front door on the right? Instantly reminding you of early Horton limited editions such as 'The Longest Of Days' with 'Chester' the tramp character - probably a little politically incorrect these days!

Paul Horton is a naive artist par excellence but he is also adapt at the sweetest kind of nostalgia, as he paints a picture of a Northern England housing estate, which harps back to simpler times.

'Fenton Hardware' store must be a nod to the BBC series 'Open All Hours' with a slimmer Arkwright (Ronnie Barker) talking to whom could be Nurse Gladys Emmanuel (Lynda Baron) in the grey coat - but wait a minute is that Granville (David Jason) on a bike in the foreground? Unusually that bike is not loaded sky high with deliveries, so he is danger of getting a clip round the ear from Arkwright for wasting time!

I love the cute little 'The Bakery' on the right, displaying it wears in the shop window and the old fashioned opened back delivery van (painted green), parked up for a few moments just off centre.

This is Paul progressing his art and 'Make My Day' is really a blend of his High Street shop scenes such as 'Friday Street' (2014) and housing estate scenes such as 'One Small Step For Man' (2019) - with shops now being painted into his housing estates and some still exist like this up north, to this day!

This is the canvas board version and is wonderfully hand finished.