Encore

Encore was inspired by an unforgettable evening watching Hawkwind perform at Morvala Festival, after my painting The Train of Lights became part of their live stage visuals. What began with a backstage conversation soon became the idea for another painting, bringing the lights, colour and energy of the stage back into my studio, and completing a rather unexpected creative circle.

From album cover to live stage — and back to the canvas

Encore began with a painting that had already travelled much further than I ever expected.

My painting The Train of Lights, inspired by the illuminated Dartmouth Steam Railway beside the River Dart, was used as the cover artwork for Hawkwind's 2026 album Psychedelic Selection.

Later that summer, I was invited to see Hawkwind perform at Morvala Festival at Mount Edgcumbe. I went expecting an extraordinary day. I didn't expect to come home with the beginnings of another painting.

From canvas to stage

Before the show, I got chatting to the person responsible for Hawkwind's stage visuals and asked whether The Train of Lights ever appeared on the giant screen behind the band.

It didn't, but he told me that if I sent him the image, he could add it.

Fortunately, I already had the album artwork on my phone. I emailed it across and, around ten minutes later, he returned with one word:

“Done.”

When I joked that I'd probably spend the entire performance with my phone ready in case I missed it, he even arranged for the image to appear just before the encore so that I'd know when to look.

Then he planted another idea.

Perhaps, he suggested, I should paint the Hawkwind stage with my artwork appearing on the screen.

The thought stayed with me.

Painting the lights

Watching the performance, I found myself drawn to everything happening visually around the band: the lasers cutting through the darkness, saturated colour across the stage, the illuminated Hawkwind logo and the huge changing screen behind the performers.

It was very different from the quiet roads, railway stations, cafés and other everyday places that frequently appear in my work.

But the reason I wanted to paint it was exactly the same.

My ongoing series, The Colour of Night, explores the way natural and artificial light transforms familiar places after dark. At Morvala, I was watching that transformation happen on an enormous scale. For the duration of the performance, an ordinary outdoor stage became a temporary world of light, colour and energy.

That became Encore.

Look closely...

There is one small detail that brings the story full circle.

Hidden within Encore is the painting that started the whole adventure.

Look closely at the stage screen and you'll find a tiny Train of Lights, just as I saw it appear behind Hawkwind that night.

A painting inspired by a train became an album cover. The album cover found its way onto a stage. The stage inspired another painting.