I love to draw life in movement. Noticing a group of young friends passing a football on the beach, I began to trace their delicate balletic motions in my sketchbook as Bob Marley sang "Is this love" on their speaker. I was touched by the sense of unity, intimacy and mutual support among this group, united by enjoyment and skill. My pen followed in my own game of keep it up, holding and developing that feeling later in my studio.
Painted in earth pigments and walnut oil, this painting has a free-flowing quality that is full of movement, echoing the balletic motion of its subject, five young footballing friends united in sport on a foggy beach in February, sketched on the spot and translated from sketchbook to easel - a moment captured in time.
