Get yourself an umbrella, the yellow one.

I’ve noticed I often paint umbrellas. I am not sure why. Maybe they remind me of my childhood. People are usually moody when it’s rainy and they have to take an umbrella with them. I see it as a happy, childlike element, something positive, colourful, something that brings joy and brightness into a rainy day.

I realise my children don’t have a problem when it’s raining. Their umbrellas are always vivid and they can’t wait to use them. It usually means that a 10-minute walk to kindergarten and school could extend to 45 minutes, but they don’t seem to care.

Perhaps everyone should get themselves a colourful umbrella, not a morbid, dark one, so we can all notice the fine things that matter.