Painting three - What we did on Holiday

The inspiration behind this painting arose fromt the idea of the holiday being a time to do things you might not usually do. I came across this photo on the internet and was struck by its strangness and humour. The three smartly dress older women next to a couple of strange space people. It seemed to me like these women, on some sort of day trip or vacation, spotted these two and thought 'oh look this'll be fun lets get a photo done', so they could look back on it in time to come with fond memories of a special moment. In reality this moment was probably quite dull, just posing for a quick snap and then on to the next sight. It reminded of a quote I read from John Hinde about the Butlin Holiday Park postcards "pictures should always convey a positive, good feeling, something which makes people happy, which makes them smile, which makes them appreciate some tenderness." This picture does make you smile. Hinde also believed that postcards should look like idealised memories, not how it was necessarily, but how people would remeber it. I think thats what holiday snaps are, you look at them and you remember an idealised version of that moment, because you will never be able to recreate the feeling you had at the exact moment the photo was taken.