Barbican Centre Roof

One of my Instagram followers describes the Barbican Centre Roof as my “obsession”. There is some truth in this. When I paint outside on my balcony, I look over this incredible panorama which resembles a vast expanse of gigantic air vents marching across the roof of the Barbican Centre. Below this roof, in the Barbican Arts Centre, there is the drama of the Royal Shakespeare Company or the London Symphony Orchestra; but up here, I am involved in a very real action drama: a formidable set of sculptural forms and colours, constantly changing depending on the season or time of day or light (see also website page entitled “Snow in the Barbican” and “Night Life”). The drama is played out in different acts: a landscape wracked by torrential rain and winds, covered in a palette of snow or bathed in dry sunlight, like an African village. On the rare occasions that figures appear on the roof, they are instantly immortalised: my builder carrying rope or the builders with hard hats that appeared on St Giles’ terrace in the distance beyond the roof. But the Barbican Centre roof is mainly partnered up with the striking green tiled roof of St Giles just beyond it in my line of vision. On my web-page entitled “My Home is My City”, the Barbican Centre Roof often features in the foreground with St Paul’s and the modern City buildings of London Wall, Aldersgate and the Shard beyond. Apart from the panoramic vision of the roof, I am most interested in its tiny, curious features: as in my small work entitled “Nuts and Bolts of the Barbican Roof” below. It is the stuff of my dreams: see "Dreams over the Barbican Centre Roof Recycled (with Kleenex)"..