"Cammell Laird Shipyard 1956" I tried this as an adventure. I developed it from a graphite pencil sketch, depicting Cammell Laird shipbuilders, in Birkenhead, when it was in its heyday. Things have changed there, though, through the years. The firm went into receivership for a while, but has had a new lease of life in recent years. Much of the former shipyard land has been sold off. So, this picture brings back a lot of memories of my student days. I did the sketch way back in the 1950's while I was still a student at art school. I started to develop this painting of it two or three years after that on a large canvas measuring 24" X 30". I thought I'd have a bit of fun with it, and after I'd drafted it out with a pencil I thought I'd extend all the straight edges of the cranes, buildings and walls etc. right across or almost right across the painting so that the whole canvas was divided up into lots of interlocking shapes. I had a lot of fun mixing the colours! I tried to keep the warmer ones around the shipyard area.