Roulette, 2001

'Roulette' features a triumphant winner leaning all the way across the table to scoop up her winnings, much to the chagrin of those around her. A great people watcher, Beryl Cook would incorporate fleeting moments, gestures, outfits and hairstyles she had observed in her paintings. She enjoyed keeping up with the latest fashion trends and delighted in detailing how people dressed, as seen here in the matching bright red polkadot dress and shoes, and the crisp pinstripe suits worn by onlookers to the scene. Joe Whitlock Blundell worked closely with Beryl to produce all of her books, and in his introduction to 'Beryl Cook: The Bumper Edition' he recalls her process. 'Beryl fell silent - her attention had been caught by a hairstyle, a pair of shoes, an embrace, and she gazed at it, absorbing every detail. She extracted a little card from her handbag and surreptitiously sketched some aspect of the scene to help her recall it later. So many of her paintings had their genesis in this way - details accumulated from a variety of sources and later assembled into the final composition.' Joe Whitlock Blundell.