Window 2 (Winter) Painting

“Geoff Routh’s obsessive and almost forensic scrutiny of the dilapidated Annie McCall Hospital and environs including the pond and garden – which has housed his previous studio for the last twenty years – has resulted in a significant and memorable body of work……… His artistic ancestry reaches back through Freud to Balthus and Courbet. There are many shared traits: fixity of purpose, industry, a belief in observation as the necessary foundation of painting and an instinctive feel for paint” (Tom Juneau) Looking around my new studio in Woolwich I’ve already spotted potential subjects - including an old rusted ferry from Liverpool which is moored just outside my studio – and directly across the river is the old Tate & Lyle Factory with the large sugar container ships still continuing to ply their trade. At night the smoke and fumes pumping out from the factory emit great masses of vapour which, combined with the often dramatic skies, seem to be prevalent on this part of the Thames, create great subject matter for a painter.