I have been drawn back to a sketchbook dated 1983 that I filled whilst holidaying in the northern Pennines. This particular subject I have now painted three times. On every occasion I have wanted to state the silhouetted buildings against the evening sky but have always wished to treat the foreground in a different manner. This time it was the walls and the foreground textures that interested me.The foreground was completed by removing the applied paint with a scalpel in some places and by softening the colour and removing it or muting it with brush work. The people, the gates, the telegraph poles and the chimney pots were drawn in to complete the picture and provide added interest.