The Butcher’s  Hook.

I was inspired to take up portraiture again, by the boys at McKanna Meats in Holborn: http://mckannameats.co.uk/ I have known this butchers for years, and I wasn’t even looking for a subject but suddenly saw “something” there that I needed to explore.  They are, IMHO, the best butchers in London.  By a country mile. But it was their lives that interested me.

They provide top quality meat, and are some of the kindest, and hard-working chaps I have ever met. Grafting at prep’ for the restaurants at five in the morning all week, and opening to the public at six a.m. (ouch!), they treat customers, from the local barristers to the less well-off with respect and a real, knowledgeable enthusiasm for their quality products.  I wanted to capture something of their hard lives and dignity. And I got to paint a combination of still-life produce and portraiture. Very satisfying, I don’t think they quite knew what to make of being painted at first––but they got used to it. I hope. 

Big, big thanks to Mark, Ian, Dan, Fred, Matt & Kevin: you’ve all been so kind. (Can I have the free chops, now, please?)