Keith Proctor

It was over forty years ago now that I remember watching my father painting and drawing in his studio at home, just the same way in which my youngest son now watches me. This is when I decided that I wanted to be a painter. There was nothing else for me and for the last 25 years that's exactly what I have done. I have painted everything in my time from animals to street scenes and have used everything from watercolours to pastels, but now my preferred medium is oil and my preferred subject matter is "the innocence of children". It came about by sheer coincidence as it was whilst I was experimenting with people studies that I included my son Jack into one of my pieces called "Footsteps". My intention was to show the bond between father and son and the closeness that they share. Boys, in particular, like to do what Dad does, so to show the boy stepping in time with his father was a natural scene for me to paint. Once I had finished the painting I knew that there was more to come of this little boy.

“Studies of everyday people doing everyday things - the way a person walks or stands, sometimes just the shape of people - fascinates me.