Alan's profile..."I am 76 years old, a retired painter and decorator. When I finished work I changed brushes, big one for a little one. I went for a few lessons but didn't like being told what to do, so I packed it in and started teaching myself. The pictures I paint are watercolours of all over the country, but mainly around Wheelton, Whittle and Brinscall. Joan, my wife, is a Wheelton girl, Higher Wheelton that is. The only exhibitions I have had have been at a caravan park in Pilling where we have a static van. The owners were kind enough to allow me to show some of my pictures. I enjoyed my 15 minutes of fame! I love painting, it has become the main part of my life. It's so relaxing and I get great satisfaction out of it. We live in a one bedroom flat in Chorley, which doesn't give us much room for storing pictures. My little granddaughter sits with me sometimes with her little brush and a big piece of paper, while Joan sits in the opposite corner on the PC, either working on my behalf scanning and copying or sending emails to our friends all over the country, we have a lot of acquaintances from the caravan site. We have tried not to sit and become vegetables, we have tried to make the best of our retirement. Although neither of us has good health. But we don't spend our time sitting in the Health Centre. Joan designed the website (which is a credit to her at the age of 70, her age when she did it) She also keeps it updated to the best of her ability. I very often go through it looking at my paintings, they are all watercolours, I sometimes use pastels for portraits of people or animals. My pictures were painted for no other reason than 'I liked them' Can't say any more!" | 
