MISS SIMPSON'S BOOTS [2020]

As a newly married young woman and a new artist, in 2004, I had travelled to London specifically to view The Royal Academy’s exhibition “The Art of William Nicolson”. I had lofty ambitions of oil painting but was also partial to painting many heels, stilettos and footwear of all kinds. I was awestruck that day. William Nicolson is one of the best British painters, described by his son, the famous painter, Ben Nicolson, as someone who “merely wanted to paint”. And what a painter he was! In going from room to room at the exhibition, I was suddenly struck by one painting in particular. It was entitled, “MISS SIMPSON’S BOOTS”, 1919. I couldn’t believe it! Here, I was at home in Edinburgh trying to paint stilettos shoes in oil paint and here was a shoe painting from 1919. Not only that, it was labelled with my newly acquired married name….”Simpson”. The painting spoke to me instantly. It offered my hope as a new painter to persist in my dream of being an artist. Nicolson spoke rarely of his art, believing that “it is difficult to rebuild in words what one records in paint.” I then read about the painting in the RA’s Exhibition Book and it said this: “Nicolson, who owned a large collection of antique costumes and footwear, is said to have discovered this pair of mid-nineteenth-century red boots in a junk shop with the label “Miss Simpson”. Coincidentally, my mother had had a antique and junk shop all throughout my childhood, so “junk shops” were well known in my family. Many years later, once I was no longer a Mrs and reverted to Miss Simpson instead, I would often look at pictures of this painting as a comfort and also an encouragement never to lose my dream of being a full time artist. I like to think my version of Miss Simpson’s Boots depicts a young woman who could have been me on the way to the exhibition that day or indeed the ghost of a mid-nineteeth-century young woman who also dreamed of being a painter. Who knows? With the addition of the face mask, this marks my version as firmly that of 2020. This painting is dedicated to William Nicolson.