England is a green and soggy land… and the north west is England’s soggiest region. To understand the English you must understand our relationship with the weather.. this is the real reason America happened because Brits were trying to find a less wet climate. The Spanish could always return to sunny Spain and the French could always go back to Paris.. but the English knew if they didn’t fight hard for the New World they would be back to weather proofs and damp. Its not co-incidence George Washington was from the north of England.. and his name involves water !

(Picture available for purchase here or direct from the artist as a signed limited edition print.)

The biggest crime in England is bad drainage and plumbing. You can commit murder and most people will just “tut tut” and forget it, but if your guttering drips onto your neighbours property prepare for war.

Living in England is a bit like living under a slightly damp and musty blanket.. you know its not very good for you but its still vaguely reassuring. The damp gets in your bones.

So for an artist it seems right to create soggy landscapes where the sun has been washed out of the sky and the predominant colours are “mossy” greens and the city looks like a sponge.

This is what makes England different we may get clear blue Californian skies occassionally but most of the time the sun god plays second fiddle.. to the great God Sogi ! We also get wind but that’s probably to do with our diet.

A simple solution to our economic problems would be to sell our abundance of water to Arabs in return for oil ! But then again in summer when we get three sunny days.. the whole country runs dry.

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