that drew me to paint was the urban
stuff,” he says. “I was just fascinated
by the cities.”
He found a good compromise in
Malta, for a while at least. For several
years, they spent winters there, with
Attwood switching to oil painting and
finding gallery representation. The
capital, Valletta, provided a pleasing
mix of history, architecture and
bustling crowds. Exhibitions followed,
including several for the Maltese
Prime Minister and President.
While the artist confesses to
“really falling in love with the place”,
the craving to return to Birmingham
remained. “You get to a point where
you start to miss something about
your own culture,” he says. “I wanted
to come home and paint.”
On permanently moving back to
the UK in 2011, Attwood’s friends
questioned his sanity: why on earth
would anyone swap the tropical island
life for Birmingham city centre? Yet it
martin jones
(Martin Jones)
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