Hardy Road in November, II 1963

John Bratby, probably using oils, painted 'Hardy Road in November, II’ with a palette of muted browns, greens, and reds, punctuated by the bright whites of window frames and the stripes on the left. You can almost feel the quick, deliberate strokes, how the painting came into being, shifting and emerging through intuition. I sympathise with Bratby, imagining him looking out of the window and thinking, ‘Right, I’m going to make something of this view.’ Maybe he wanted to capture the everyday reality around him, the buildings on his street, the kind of place where people live their lives. You can see the thick paint that emphasizes the texture, each stroke building up the scene. Look at how the vertical lines of the window frame contrast with the angular roofs and facades of the houses. It’s a simple gesture, but it communicates a feeling of containment, as if the artist is observing the world from a fixed perspective. Bratby, like many artists, was in dialogue with the world, transforming what he saw into something new and meaningful. It's an ongoing conversation across time, inspiring creativity.