This etching depicts a view I saw in Nice, France, while on holiday. I took the photo used for the reference, liking the quaint image of an old garden up on a great outcrop overlooking the city and beach below, and then I went off to get a coffee in town. Suddenly I heard an enormous BANG! and was quite startled - I thought a bomb had gone off but when I looked around and nobody seemed to be worried, and there were no alarms or emergency sirens. I was very confused.
I looked into it and it turns out every day, up in that garden where I was just enjoying the view, a cannon is fired to mark midday! It's called the Midday Cannon, or the Noon Cannon, and in French is called 'Canoun de Miejour.' I love the fact that this peaceful garden scene, which I have represented in a quant style emulating old children's fairy tale books or faded photographs, can also suddenly become the scene of something so startling, unexpected and explosive.
Being an etching which utilises plate tone, there may be slight variations between prints in the edition - please contact me if you would like to see an image of a particular print in the set.
