Firstly, there was a very difficult unsuccessful painting which I obliterated underneath this one. As the idea for this painting evolved I soon realised that I could contain within this shape, the actual complete profile and the other symbolic one of the boat.

Because my interest is to pitch human incident against the strong symbol that a boat already is, I decided to try and depict a very specific gesture between the father and son which could resonate against the very primal rusty orange beaked shape of the steel boat so that neither the gesture nor the boat should claim sole attention. The gulls soar and fly, half in and half out of this painting, across the painted border to counter the illusion of the three waves in the background.

The boat is unusual in Hastings where the fishing fleet is beach launched and therefore boats have always been made of wood. It took a year to fit out the steel skeleton and make it seaworthy, during which time I would visit it every few days to draw or look. Graffiti was chalked on it ‘Daddies Yacht’ or ‘The Victory’. Its natural habitat seemed to be the boatyard, its deck was a stage’.

Letter from the artist dated January 1991