By this time we had started saving for the deposit on a house. I was doing consultancy work alongside my full-time job at the V&A and it was becoming more difficult to find time for painting. Work as a conservator was taking over.  My production of paintings slowed and came to a standstill.  This painting of the boat house on the river at Surbiton, opposite the pub where we usually did our weekend drinking, was one of my last.  I could no longer continue as both an artist and a conservator and the choice to abandon painting in favour of my career at the V&A was made.