I came across this carousel at a country Field Day and took a great many photos of it. I was, at the time, working on a 'Ring 'o Roses' composition (a group of children running in a circle - they appear in Party No 2) which would not come together, so I abandoned it and substituted the carousel.

The original carousel was old, rusted, chipped, had no canopy and a couple of the horses' legs were missing but, when I painted exactly that, it looked as if I'd made it up. (This is a constant problem when using, say, spectacular skies or grotesque people - terrific in a photograph but no good in a painting).

It was a particularly difficult work as the entire background had to be just right before I could add the steel supports, a major compositional element but months later I finally got it more or less resolved, sent it to a gallery, and it was  damaged.

Then I had a hankering to do it again, and it was every bit as difficult.