James Drinkwater Arriving in Nice, France

After three months in Paris, thanks to the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, I took my wife Lottie Consalvo and our boy Vincenzo to the south of France. Driving into Nice I was enamoured by the activity along the promenade: large palms, Latin architecture, wonderfully dressed French men, women and children all playing their part in a series of marvellous events celebrating life by the sea. This painting talks directly to that initial response. A snapshot of daily life in Nice, a city so celebrated by Matisse.

- James Drinkwater, 2016