The Strand: Early Evening in London Painting

Of the things that define me, two stand out: The dual identity that I cherish, and optimism! The dual identity is courtesy of the two layers that make me who I am today: The root heritage of my birth in a Lebanon that is both beautiful on the shores of the Mediterranean and troubled in the winds of an unstable region; and the richness of an entire adult life spent living in the West, predominantly in the UK. And then the optimism. I am an eternal optimist! Optimism has bridged all the gaps of my life, made sense of a confusing world, and provided the joy that you can only get from believing that there may be something to earn and learn from almost everything that happens. Art heals! A lifelong career in media as a senior executive for a global news organisation meant that I saw too much of what is wrong with the world. But I knew, of course, that there is also so much to celebrate, and so I needed a constant reminder of all that is good and beautiful. Art provided that, and it became a lifeline. In the end, the decision to quit the all consuming day job in favour of a life of art was an easy one to make. My art reflects the passions I've held since my childhood. An old impressionist painting hung in my family's living room in Lebanon, and still there to this day, left in me an enduring love of cityscapes from the turn of the 19th into the 20th century. That evolved into a fascination with the rebellious impressionist art from that era, particularly that which depicts a moment in a city's life, whether Paris, London or Beirut. I could never get enough of it. But I also adored the impressionists' take on the lights and colours of the countryside. Everything the original band of Impressionist rebels did, from that fateful counter-exhibition in 1874 onwards, continues to drive and inspire me today. Finally, there is the other love that accompanied me throughout my life: Motor racing. The thrill of human and machine on the very edge of often mortal danger, pushing everything to its limits, is unfailingly exhilarating. I try to express some of that thrill in a few of my paintings. ​I hope you see something here that inspires you. Samir George Farah