In response to our request to discover Joes long lost works, we were sent images of this work from 1968 which is clearly before he developed his own recognisable style.
It was given by Joe to the family that owned it in return for a favour that the father did for Joe. It is a Shackleton bomber on Ocean patrol after the Second World War. When I showed this to Joe he said;
“When I started out I had aspirations to be the north’s premier maritime painter and painted lots of ships, boats and planes and although they have their own fascination, they are still just things. I came to realise that it’s people that are interesting. That’s where the stories are, that’s where the entertainment is.”