It must have been around 2005 when I visited the home of Belfast artist Denis Johnston and viewed some of his paintings.  Denis lives in Belfast and was a member of the same church as me at that time, and so I would have visited him on occasions, but on this particular visit he showed me some of the art he had showed on display in an exhibition.  The imagery was stunning, with amazing technique and beautiful scenery.  Yet my eye was continually drawn to one particular painting, and I couldn’t resist expressing my admiration for it.  It wasn’t a beautiful landscape or an amazing sunset or mists rolling across a lake, – it was a small section of Regent Street in Newtownards, with a pedestrian crossing and a big dark shadow, and some old, and entirely unremarkable buildings.  Thousands of people must walk past it every week.  Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off it!  Why?  Just because it made me feel that I was right there!  It had a ‘sense of place!’  It told me about the place, gave me a sense of ‘belonging’ to it, drew my mind visually into the picture. 

Here it is:-