Heads up then for the annual exhibition of the ‘Royal Society of British Artists.’ at the Mall Galleries. Here are pictures that engage the viewer by force of their visceral impact as art should without having to write a ten thousand word dissertation. And it’s good to see that some modern artists still want to paint a picture in that great tradition of the Victorian artist. Ian Cryer’s ‘Afternoon Arrival, Penzance,’is an impressionist delight and who can fail to be moved by the mysterious girl with the red balloon beautifully poised by Alan Lambirth. On my Xmas list this year is a Carol Hubble goldfish bowl and, if some of my wealthier friends are reading this, how about one of Charles Hardaker’s ‘Open Doors.’

You can keep your huge canvases of blue and yellow produced on a factory assembly line and your piles of bricks on the floor. These remind me vividly of a saying my mother used to repeat often. ‘A fool and his money are soon parted.’

The ‘Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour’ at the end of the month. I can’t wait.